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Racist or revolutionary: The complex legacy of Alexei Navalny

Euro News 16 Feb 2024

……………….’Not a Western liberal democrat’

there is a darker side to him, some say. 

Navalny’s ‘ideal’ image conflicts with his past remarks, McGlynn tells Euronews, pointing to his controversial views on Muslims in the Caucasus, Georgians and Central Asian migrants in Russia.  

“Immigrants from Central Asia bring in drugs [to Russia],” Navalny said in an interview in 2012, defending what he described as a “realist” visa requirement for “wonderful people from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.”

While he has reflected on some of these past remarks, they frequently re-surface, causing some to question if Navalny is what many in the Western world think he is.  

Navalny’s controversial statements stem from his political origins in the nationalist movement, according to McGlynn. 

“He used to attend the Russian march, a very far-right nationalist group generally behind the slogan of ‘Russia for ethnic Russians’. Anybody who expects Navalny to be an ideal Western liberal Democrat has been mistaken,” she tells Euronews. 

His ultra-nationalist sentiment was prominent in a video dating back some 17 years filled with xenophobic comments. 

His ultra-nationalist sentiment was prominent in a video dating back some 17 years filled with xenophobic comments. 

“Everything in our way should be carefully but decisively removed through deportation,” Navalny said in the video dressed as a dentist, comparing immigrants to dental cavities. 

Amnesty International stripped the opposition leader of the “prisoner of conscience” status based on this clip. It reversed this decision in 2021, recognising an “individual’s opinions and behaviour may evolve over time” in a statement.   ………………………………………………………….

His incendiary comments on immigrants and Georgians re-surfaced when Navalny’s daughter, Dasha Navalnaya, was invited to speak at Georgetown University in May 2023. 

Students filed a petition against the speaker selection, calling for a meritocratic appointment and that “being anti-Putin doesn’t imply being a pro-democratic, anti-war, and liberal leader.” 

Following the backlash, two new speakers were added by the university to diversify perspectives, refusing to “disinvite” Navalnaya. ……………………………………..

February 25, 2024 Posted by | politics, Russia | Leave a comment

TODAY. Alexei Navalny – the paradox of his legacy

Whatever you think of Alexei Navalny, he didn’t deserve what was done to him. I’ve written before on how the USA government prefers to kill people slowly, with finesse – as in the case of Julian Assange, (.and way way back, Wilfred Burchett.)

The czarist way is more blunt and definite, as in the case of Alexander Litvinenko – a cruel poisoning.

Now Alexei Navalny, a determined opponent of Vladimir Putin, has died suddenly at 47. We’re supposed to believe “of natural causes” – yeah, right, when you’ve been persecuted and ill-treated for years, you might die of a heart problem, anyway. But who believes the Kremlin?

Navalny fought courageously against corruption, and the rule of Putin. He has the guts to come back to Russia, and keep up the fight, even after a previous near-fatal poisoning.

There is another side to the Navalny story. He was an ultra-right racist and Russian nationalist, who railed against immigration and compared Muslims to “flies and cockroaches”. He joined in the fascist “Russian March” along with Monarchist, fascist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant organizations.

In earlier years he worked on the stock market, aligning himself with the liberal pro-market party “Yabloko” (The Apple), known for its long-standing relations with Washington’s State Department and the CIA. He had close links with  influential bankers, and the support of a wealthy right-wing movement against Putin, which would be aimed at installing a pro-US puppet regime.

So, the traditional Czarist cruel and clumsy removal of Alexei Navalny has played right into the hands of the USA government. A very timely occasion for much propaganda for Ukraine’s irrational and doomed military fight against Russia, – and for buckets of crocodile tears.

Well, the pro Russisan propagandists will keep bleating about Navalny as a puppet of the USA.

And the “respectable” corporate English-language press will regurgitate the glorious pro – Zelensky and Ukraine stuff coming from Biden etc, (the Navalny death a boon to their story)

But the truth must be somewhere in between, and Navalny has to be remembered as a brave man, who fought for what he believed in, – but by no means as a model of a true democrat.

February 24, 2024 Posted by | PERSONAL STORIES, politics, Reference, Russia | 1 Comment

Alexei Navalny Was an Ultra-Right Nationalist Who Compared Muslims to Cockroaches

Medium, Matthew Puddister 23 Feb 24

The death of Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison camp Feb. 16 prompted a wave of eulogies from Western politicians and media, Canada summoning the Russian ambassador in protest, and the immediate accusation that Russian President Vladimir Putin had had the Western-backed opposition leader killed. Such accusations may or may not be true; the authoritarian Putin has long been credibly linked to the assassination of his political rivals. But the campaign to portray Navalny as some liberal hero of democracy and human rights — perhaps reaching its height with the 2022 film Navalny, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature — is pure fiction, a Western propaganda invention.

In reality, Navalny was a far nastier piece of work: an ultra-right racist and Russian nationalist, who railed against immigration and compared Muslims to “flies and cockroaches”. It’s ironic that Western liberals who view Donald Trump as a puppet of Russia/Putin and the very incarnation of evil are mourning a figure whose politics in all essentials are very similar to Trump’s. Consider Trump’s infamous attack on illegal immigrants launching his 2016 U.S. presidential campaign — “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best … They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists” — to Navalny’s remarks in a 2012 interview stating, “Immigrants from Central Asia bring in drugs [to Russia].”

Like Trump, Navalny encouraged and welcomed support from the most extreme fringes of the far right. In 2007, Yabloko, Russia’s oldest liberal party, kicked out Navalny for his “nationalist views” and participation in the Russian March, an annual rally that brings together thousands of far-right Russian nationalists, monarchists, and white supremacists under the slogan “Russia for ethnic Russians”. Shortly thereafter, Navalny released a video in which he presents himself as a “certified nationalist” who wants to exterminate “flies and cockroaches”, his rant intercut with shots of bearded Muslim men. In the video, Navalny then takes out a gun and shoots an actor wearing a keffiyeh, who is portrayed as trying to attack him……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 the fawning tributes to Navalny by reformist politicians and celebrities beggar belief in their willful disregard for this man’s racist, far-right politics. Instead, they adhere to the bourgeoisie’s standard rubric by which those who support the interests of U.S. imperialism are hailed as champions of “freedom”, while those who oppose the interests of U.S. imperialism are vilified…………………………………………

Contrary to what Joe Biden, Cornel West, and Bono would have us believe, the mere fact of being Russian and opposing Vladimir Putin does not make someone an icon of freedom. U.S. imperialism and its allies have a long tradition of funding far-right forces abroad as proxies……………………………………….  https://medium.com/@matthew.puddister/alexei-navalny-was-an-ultra-right-nationalist-who-compared-muslims-to-cockroaches-1864e0cda000

February 24, 2024 Posted by | politics, Russia | Leave a comment

Navalny had a mixed past – was an “ultra nationalist”

Radio Free Europe, February 25, 2021 

1 “…………………………On February 23, the prominent NGO Amnesty International withdrew Navalny from its list of “prisoners of conscience,” a designation reserved for people imprisoned for who they are or what they believe. Amnesty said Navalny, who is in prison on what he and his supporters call trumped-up charges aimed at silencing him, fell short of its criteria because of past statements the rights watchdog perceived as reaching the “threshold of advocacy of hatred.”

Amnesty’s recent probe into Navalny, who has come under scrutiny for his association with Russian nationalists and statements seen as racist and xenophobic, was prompted by a wave of complaints that appeared part of “a coordinated campaign” to discredit him after he was named a “prisoner of conscience” in January.

One anonymous Amnesty employee told Russian media that a Twitter thread about Navalny by Katya Kazbek — a U.S.-based freelance columnist and translator who has written for Russia’s state-funded media outlet RT and for RFE/RL — lists examples of objectionable comments made by Navalny and was cited by a wave of e-mails sent to the organization.

Kazbek, whose real name is Yekaterina Dubovitskaya, told RFE/RL she has “never been knowingly in touch with anyone connected to Amnesty International.”

In response, the liberal Yabloko party expelled Navalny from its ranks, but under the banner of a new group called the National Russian Liberation Movement in 2007 he released YouTube videos describing himself as a “certified nationalist” and advancing thinly veiled xenophobia.

In one clip, Navalny is shown in a dentist’s outfit as footage of migrants in Moscow is interspersed with his references to harmful tooth cavities. “I recommend full sanitization,” he says. “Everything in our way should be carefully but decisively be removed through deportation.”

In subsequent years Navalny publicly softened his tone but continued promoting conservative immigration policies, campaigning to introduce a visa regime with Central Asia, a major source of labor migrants to Russia, ahead of the 2018 presidential election from which the Kremlin ultimately barred him. He also railed against “Islamism” in posts to his blog as late as 2015.

Navalny has repeatedly stated in interviews that he doesn’t regret his past comments or videos, and suggested that an ability to engage both liberals and nationalists is part of his strength as a politician.

February 24, 2024 Posted by | politics, Russia | Leave a comment

‘Everyone needs to calm down’: experts assess Russian nuclear space threat

Attacks in Earth’s orbit as likely to damage Russian interests as western ones, says leading academic

Nicola Davis , 15 Feb 24, Guardian,

Rumours that Russia is planning to deploy nuclear weapons in space have been dampened down by experts who say that while such technology is possible, there is no need to push the panic button.

The furore kicked off on Wednesday when the head of the US House of Representatives’ intelligence committee, Mike Turner, called for the Biden administration to declassify information on what he called a “serious national security threat”.

While Turner gave no further details, it was later reported by news outlets, citing unnamed sources, to involve Russia’s potential deployment of a nuclear anti-satellite weapon in space. The Kremlin dismissed the claim as a “malicious fabrication”.

Dr Bleddyn Bowen, an associate professor at the University of Leicester who specialises in outer space international relations and warfare, said the the lack of detail was no reason to panic. “It’s so vague and cryptic, it could be a number of different things. [But] no matter what they are, none of them are a big deal, to be honest. Everyone needs to calm down about this.”

Russia is bound by several legal restrictions regarding the use or presence of nuclear weapons in space. Article 4 of the Outer Space treaty (1967) bans nuclear weapons from being put into orbit, installed on celestial bodies or otherwise stationed in outer space, while the New Start treaty aims to reduce the number of deployable nuclear arms. The Partial Nuclear Test Ban treaty (1963) bans nuclear explosions in space.

Even if Russia ignores these agreements, there are other considerations. Bowen said the rumoured threat may relate to nuclear-tipped anti-satellite weapons but that such a threat was nothing new.

“These are the first and the most crude kind of anti-satellite weapons ever built: the Americans had them in 1959.” He said any state with nuclear weapons already had the technology to use them in space, broadly speaking.

Another possibility, Bowen said, was that the threat related to space-based nuclear weapons that could be used to knock out satellites. Again, the idea is not entirely new: Russia has previously explored the stationing of nuclear weapons in space, albeit to attack ground targets……………………………………………………………………………………

Space-based nuclear weapons are vulnerable to attack from other nations, while the damage from such weapons would be indiscriminate.

“When you detonate a nuclear weapon in space you generate the fireball … but what you [also] generate is the electromagnetic pulse which fries the electrical circuits of anything that’s unshielded within a few thousand kilometres’ radius,” he said. The pulse may also knock out power grids on Earth if the bomb is detonated above or near populated areas.

“After that, you have the radiation that the bomb would generate,” Bowen said. Over time it would fry the electrical circuits of satellites in the wider part of Earth’s orbit.

The loss of satellite services could affect myriad systems on Earth, from telecoms to satellite navigation services. “That can have knock-on effects to the economy, to critical infrastructure, to the financial system, which relies on these satellites.”

In other words, while nuclear bombs could take out a desired satellites, they could also damage Russia’s technology and interests.

“You’ve got to be in a very desperate situation to want to do something like that,” he said. “So I am not losing any sleep over this.”

Russia also has other technology to hand. In 2021 Russia tested a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile, successfully knocking out one of its own defunct satellites.

But James Green, a professor of public international law at the University of the West of England, said he was also dubious that that system would be deployed. “I think Russia likes to project its space power [to appear] greater than it probably is,” he said.
 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/15/experts-russian-nuclear-space-threat

February 18, 2024 Posted by | Russia, space travel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

“Threat to US national security” relates to Russia’s possible launch of nuclear weapons into space

EUROPEAN PRAVDAUKRAINSKA PRAVDA — WEDNESDAY, 14 FEBRUARY 2024, https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/02/14/7441914/

Two sources of the US television channel ABC News have claimed that a “serious national security threat to the US” which was discussed on 14 February relates to Russia’s alleged intention to launch nuclear weapons into space.

Source: European Pravda, ABC News

Details: The chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, had requested that intelligence be declassified that “has to do with Russia wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space”.

ABC News has clarified that this is not about Russia dropping nuclear weapons on Earth, but rather that these weapons could be used against satellites.

“It is very concerning and very sensitive,” one source told ABC News, calling it a “big deal”.

Details of the “serious national security threat to the US” were not disclosed, but many members of the US Congress, while describing the issue as serious, assured the public that it was no cause for alarm.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that he had personally contacted leading lawmakers from the national security committees before Turner publicly warned of the “serious threat to national security”.

Background: A survey conducted ahead of the Munich Security Conference revealed a lower perception of Russia’s war against Ukraine as a major threat to the world compared to the end of 2022.

February 16, 2024 Posted by | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The ‘disturbing’ intel roiling the Hill is about Russian nukes in space

The U.S. has for more than a year been concerned about Russia’s potentially creating and deploying an antisatellite nuclear weapon, one of the people familiar with the intelligence said.

Politico, By ERIN BANCOALEXANDER WARD and LEE HUDSON, 02/14/2024

A vague warning by the chair of the House Intelligence Committee about a “serious national security threat” Wednesday is related to Russia’s attempts to develop an antisatellite nuclear weapon for use in space, according to two people familiar with the matter.

While the people did not provide further details on the intel, one of them noted the U.S. has for more than a year been concerned about Russia’s potentially creating and deploying an antisatellite nuclear weapon — a weapon the U.S. and other countries would be unable to adequately defend against.

In his statement Wednesday morning, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said his committee had made available the information about the national security threat and called on the administration to declassify the intelligence so officials and lawmakers could discuss the matter with allies.

It is not clear what prompted Turner to issue the statement now, as the intelligence has been available to leaders of the House intelligence committee and their top aides in a secure room on Capitol Hill for more than a week, one of the people said. The Senate intelligence committee has also had access to the information.

House intelligence committee members on Tuesday voted to open the intelligence up for viewing for all members. All Senate members now have access as well.

It’s possible Turner was attempting to raise alarms about Russia’s advancements in space as a way of underscoring the need for lawmakers to approve additional aid to Ukraine. The Senate passed the supplemental bill including $60 billion in aid for Kyiv. It is currently under review by the House.

One House intelligence committee member said the intelligence was “disturbing.” Another said “it’s a serious issue but not an immediate crisis.” Both members and the others familiar with the intelligence were granted anonymity to speak about classified materials. ………………………………………………………..

U.S. officials have raised the alarm in recent years about missiles launched from Earth’s surface that can destroy satellites in orbit. In 2021, Russia conducted an anti-satellite missile test on one of its own satellites, breaking it up into more than 1,500 pieces of debris — which can pose a serious threat to other objects in orbit.

ABC previously reported on the particulars about the most recent intelligence relating specifically to the antisatellite nuclear weapon.

There are a number of other issues that the administration has viewed as concerning in regard to Russia’s activities in space, including certain developments with its satellites and its jamming of U.S. satellites. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/14/house-intel-national-security-threat-russia-space-power-00141473

February 15, 2024 Posted by | Russia, space travel | 2 Comments

Russian nuclear capabilities in space could threaten international satellites, US military comms: Sources

House Intel Chairman Mike Turner first warned of the ‘serious national security threat’ on Wednesday

 By Brooke Singman , Jacqui Heinrich Fox News, February 14, 2024

The U.S. has intelligence of a national and international security threat related to Russian nuclear capabilities in space which could threaten satellites, including potentially knocking out U.S. military communications and reconnaissance, Fox News has learned. 

Sources tell Fox News that the Russian capability has not yet deployed.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner on Wednesday morning first warned of a “serious national security threat,” and called on President Biden to declassify it………………………………………………………………………………………………………. more https://www.foxnews.com/politics/russian-nuclear-capabilities-space-could-threaten-international-satellites-us-military-comms-sources

February 15, 2024 Posted by | Russia, technology | Leave a comment

Russia has no plans to deploy nuclear arms beyond Belarus, says deputy minister

By Dmitry Antonov and Guy Faulconbridge

February 2, 2024,  https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-has-no-plans-deploy-nuclear-arms-beyond-belarus-says-deputy-minister-2024-02-01/

  • Summary
  • U.S. likely to deploy nuclear weapons in England – researchers
  • Russia says UK deployment will not deter Russia
  • Russia says discussing Ukraine as part of BRICS

MOSCOW, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Russia will not deploy nuclear weapons abroad except in its ally Belarus but will find ways to counter any deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Britain, the deputy minister in charge of arms control said on Thursday.

President Vladimir Putin said last year that Moscow had transferred some tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, blaming what he casts as a hostile and aggressive West for the decision.

2

Top nuclear researchers at the Federation of American Scientists, opens new tab say there is no conclusive evidence to show where the weapons are in Belarus, or even if they are there at all.

Asked by reporters if Russia would deploy nuclear weapons beyond Belarus, for example in South America, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said: “No, it is not planned.”

“The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus was carried out to counter the increasingly aggressive and threatening activities of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) led by the United States.”

Ryabkov, who oversees arms control, also scolded the United States for including what he said were openly declared “nuclear free” European countries in NATO nuclear missions. He did not elaborate.

Separately, Ryabkov told Russia Today in an interview that U.S. plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Britain would not deter Moscow.

“If they believe that re-introduction of nuclear weapons in the UK is a deterrent to Russia, then they are mistaken,” Ryabkov said. “We urge them to stop… this endless circle of escalation.”

February 6, 2024 Posted by | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear Fuel: Russian Cutoff Would Upend Global Market

Jan 5, 2024, Author, Grace Symes, London. Editor. Phil Chaffee

The global nuclear fuel market could be upended this year by one increasingly likely scenario: the possibility that Moscow cuts off all nuclear fuel supplies to the US in retaliation for a bill expected to pass this month in the US Congress.

That bill would ban imports of Russian low-enriched uranium with waivers through 2028, but US nuclear operators fear it would prompt more immediate Russian retaliation, which would in turn have far-reaching effects on the global nuclear fuel sector and leave US utilities in a precarious position, whether or not they were reliant on Russian fuel. US utilities are unlikely to have to actually stop operating reactors due to a lack of available fuel, , but sources expect such a scenario to push further north already high prices for uranium, conversion
and enrichment.

 Energy Intelligence 5th Jan 2024

https://www.energyintel.com/0000018c-cabf-d61c-a7cc-fbbf5b580000

January 8, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, politics international, Russia | Leave a comment

A nuclear-powered ship in Murmansk started to burn. Only few locals got to know about the serious incident

The fire brigade in Murmansk quickly extinguished the blaze that broke out on the 24th of December in a cabin onboard nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput. State shipowner Rosatom never issued any information about the dramatic situation.

By Atle Staalesen, 28 Dec 23

Little information is available about the fire that broke out in Atomflot, the base for nuclear-powered vessels in Murmansk.

Only two short announcements were in the evening of the 24th of December posted on messenger service Telegram by the local Ministry of Emergency Situations (Emercom).

The first message posted at 21.17 pm informed about a fire on the territory of Atomflot and about the fire brigades that were on the way.

About 1,5 hour later, Emercom informed about its successful fire fighting……………

According to the emergency service, the fire covered an area of about 30 square meters in a cabin onboard the Sevmorput.

The Telegram messages were read by about ten thousand people. A few of them commented on the posts.

Where should we flee?” one of the readers asked.

Rosatom, the state nuclear power company that operates the Sevmorput, has apparently not issued any information about the fire. Neither has any of the company’s subsidiaries, such as the Atomflot or the Rosatomflot.

There is no information about the incident on the companies’ websites or their social media.

The fire could potentially have created a dramatic situation in the big Russian Arctic city. The Atomflot base is located only few kilometres from downtown Murmansk and a major fire on the nuclear-powered ship would have posed a serious threat to the about 270,000 population.

The Sevmorput is the world’s only nuclear-powered merchant container ship.

It is 260 meter long and was built in 1988. For many years, the ship lay idle in Murmansk and Russian authorities ultimately decided to scrap it. However, in 2013 it was instead decided to undertake a major renovation, and in autumn 2015, the ship was again test-sailing the Barents Sea. The following year, Sevmorput was back in regular service and has in the lastest years delivered cargo to military installations in the Russian Arctic, as well as to the petroleum development along the Siberian coast. The ship can carry 74 lighters or 1324 containers.

After the 2015 upgrade and safety evaluation, the reactor’s service life was prolonged with 150,000 hours aimed at keeping the vessel in operation until 2024.

It now looks increasingly likely that the ship will exit service and ultimately be scrapped. In a recent conference on the Arctic, Head of Atomflot Leonid Irlitsa said that his company plans to replace the ship with alternative non-nuclear vessels in 2024………….  https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/nuclear-safety/2023/12/nuclear-powered-ship-murmansk-started-burn-only-few-locals-got-know-about

December 30, 2023 Posted by | ARCTIC, incidents, Russia | Leave a comment

Mystery fire breaks out on Russia’s only nuclear-powered icebreaker vessel as it was docked at Arctic port

  • The Sevmorput, built in 1988, underwent extensive upgrades a decade ago
  • Its owner stressed there was no threat to the ship’s nuclear reactor plant 

By JAMES REYNOLDS  and WILL STEWART, 25 December 2023

A mystery blaze aboard Russia‘s only nuclear-powered icebreaker cargo ship triggered panic in the Arctic port of Murmansk. 

A fire broke out on Sunday in one of the cabins of the Soviet-made Sevmorput, currently docked in the northern Russian region bordering Finland and Norway.

The inferno spread some 323 square feet (30 sq metres) on the 830-ft ship (230m) before firefighters were able to put it out without casualties, Russia’s emergency ministry said. 

‘The fire was quickly liquidated,’ Atomflot, which owns the vessel, said in a statement. ‘There were no injuries. There was no threat to crucial support systems or to the reactor plant.’

The ship, which entered service in 1988 and went through an extensive upgrade a decade ago, is Russia’s only nuclear-powered icebreaking transport ship, according to Rosatom. ………………………………………………..more  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12899379/Inferno-nuclear-russia-icebreaker-panic-murmansk-arctic.html













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December 29, 2023 Posted by | incidents, Russia | Leave a comment

Russia To Retire World’s Only Nuclear-Powered, Largest Battle-Cruiser Pyotr Veliky

The Russian Navy will not modernize the massive Pyotr Veliky battle-cruiser, the world’s only nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the largest non-aircraft carrier naval warship.

The one-of-kind warship that packs phenomenal firepower was supposed to be refitted and modernized after another ship in its class, Admiral Nakhimov, concluded her modernization. Pyotr Veliky will head for decommissioning following that.

According to reports, the anticipated refurbishment has been canceled owing to concerns over the massive costs and technical challenges involved in the vessels’ operations and maintenance.

Moreover, the ships are also not in harmony with newer concepts being considered in the Russian Navy, which favor mid-sized, heavily armed missile boats, corvettes, and frigates, which have a mix of land-attack, surface-ship strike, anti-air, and submarine hunting capabilities. ……………………………………………………………………………  https://www.eurasiantimes.com/russia-to-retire-worlds-only-nuclear-powered-largest-battle-cruiser-pyotr-veliky-sister-ship-to-serve-in-arctic/

December 28, 2023 Posted by | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Why Egypt’s new nuclear plant is a long-term win for Russia

By Marina Lorenzini | December 20, 2023

With 22 countries pledging to triple global nuclear energy production by
2050 at the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai, sincere prospects for growth in
global nuclear energy market is on the table. Nonetheless, these 22
countries largely represent ones that have minimal ties with Russia’s
nuclear exports or are seeking to decouple themselves from a current
dependency.

Many other countries are considering the option of nuclear
energy, and several will turn to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy
company, Rosatom, to build their new reactors. Since assuming power,
Russian President Vladimir Putin has developed Russia’s nuclear industry
exports as a key piece of its energy and geopolitical portfolio. Rosatom
currently holds about 70 percent of the global export market for
construction of new nuclear power plants. According to the conglomerate’s
disclosures, its exports exceeded $10 billion in 2022, with a schedule of
upcoming international orders amounting to about $200 billion over the next
10 years.

One country in particular has embraced a partnership with
Rosatom: Egypt. In 2015, Russia and Egypt concluded an intergovernmental
agreement that led Rosatom to build a $30-billion nuclear power plant near
the Mediterranean coastal town of El Dabaa, about 170 kilometers west of
Alexandria. With four Russian-designed, 1.2-gigawatt, VVER reactor units,
the El Dabaa nuclear power plant is expected to generate more than 10
percent of total electricity production in Egypt and provide a consistent
baseload power source for 20 million people.

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 20th Dec 2023  https://thebulletin.org/2023/12/why-egypts-new-nuclear-plant-is-a-long-term-win-for-russia/

December 23, 2023 Posted by | Egypt, politics international, Russia | Leave a comment

Documents Reveal Hidden Problems at Russia’s Nuclear Powerhouse

  • Flagship reactor had unusual safety event in February 2022
  • Rosatom said its reactors all meet highest safety standards

By Alberto Nardelli and Jonathan Tirone, December 18, 2023

As Russian troops poured into Ukraine at the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion in February last year, alarm was rising at a flagship Kremlin nuclear project in neighboring Belarus, just a short distance from the European Union’s border.

Engineers at Rosatom Corp. preparing a new 1,200-megawatt reactor, which was not yet connected to the power grid, to generate electricity at the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant detected a mysterious and exceedingly rare problem. Resin was seeping into the primary circuit, threatening to seize up critical components, according to internal documents of the Russian state nuclear……………………….(Subscribers only) more https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-18/documents-reveal-hidden-problems-at-russia-s-nuclear-powerhouse

December 20, 2023 Posted by | Russia, safety | Leave a comment