The world is not ready to introduce sanctions against the Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom. The real threat of tough sanctions would force Russia to withdraw its troops from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZAEP). Oleksiy Yizhak, head of the department of the National Institute of Strategic Studies, expressed this opinion today, December 5, on the air of the FREEDOM TV channel.
“The world is not yet ready for this, but it is gradually getting ready. The process of excluding Rosatom from Western cooperation is ongoing. If the world was ready for sanctions against Rosatom, it would have imposed them, and the issue of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant would have already been resolved. The troops would have left there already, because under the threat of real sanctions, Russia would have withdrawn the personnel from there and handed it over to control. But if this does not happen, then the world is not ready. But this does not mean that the issue of sanctions against Rosatom has been completely removed,” he said.
Russia’s actions at the ZNPP, constant shelling of Nikopol destabilize the situation, but this is not enough for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it is waiting for more serious reasons to raise the issue of sanctions again, the expert believes.
“As long as there are no openly dangerous destabilizing actions, perhaps the issue of sanctions will not be considered. It will drag on all the time. The shelling of Nikopol is serious, because when Russia fires on the right bank of the Dnieper, it destroys the communication lines that provide the station with electricity to support security systems. The station is destroyed, it does not generate electricity, but it needs to be connected in order for its life support, including its security system, to work. Probably, the IAEA is waiting for something more serious in order to raise the issue of sanctions again,” he explained.