Russia’s nuclear entity aids war effort, leading to calls for sanctions

Russia’s state nuclear power conglomerate has been working to supply the Russian arms industry with components, technology and raw materials for missile fuel, documents

show, aiding Moscow’s deadly onslaught on Ukraine and leading to calls for the company, Rosatom, to be put under sanctions. A letter from a Rosatom department chief,

dated October 2022 and obtained by Ukrainian intelligence, refers to a recent meeting with the Defense Ministry and representatives of Russia’s military-industrial complex. It

shows the state nuclear company offering to provide goods to Russian military units and to Russian weapons manufacturers that are under sanctions. The weapons

manufacturers include Almaz-Antey, a missile systems producer; NPK Tekhmash, which manufactures unguided bombs and multiple missile launch systems; Vysokotochniye Kompleksy, which

makes Iskander missiles; NPO Splav, which produces the Uragan rocket launchers that fire cluster bombs; the state-owned aircraft conglomerate; and several Russian armored carrier

and tank makers. Detailed descriptions of the products available for use by the Russian military and the arms industry are attached to the letter, which was provided to The

Washington Post. Rosatom has long presented itself as a civilian entity operating nuclear power plants in commercial partnerships across the globe, despite its role in

also developing nuclear weapons for Russia. “Rosatom is known in the nuclear world as a civil nuclear company. That’s basically what its brand name is,” said Mark Hibbs, senior

fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s nuclear policy program.