{"id":90443,"date":"2022-11-24T12:31:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T09:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/?p=90443"},"modified":"2022-12-09T20:28:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T17:28:23","slug":"putin-moves-to-legalise-his-hijacking-of-the-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/putin-moves-to-legalise-his-hijacking-of-the-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant.html","title":{"rendered":"Putin Moves to Legalise His Hijacking of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russian federation has found a way to legalise its capture of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. Russia’s armed forces stormed the Zaporizhzhia plant in South-Eastern Ukraine in March 2022. Two new state companies were registered in October 2022, days before and after an executive order was issued by Vladimir Putin declaring the power plant \u201cfederal property\u201d of Russia.\u00a0In partnership with our colleagues at the specialized Ukrainian publication\u00a0InfoAtom News\u00a0<\/a>Bivol managed to obtain exclusive documents dating from October 2022. <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>These include the registration papers of a state company and another state enetrprise in Moscow enabling Russia’s state nuclear monopoly Rosatom to operate the Zaporizhzhia power plant. Kyiv has already drafted a package of proposed sanctions against Rosatom because of the illegal takeover of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, Ukraine’s former energy minister Olga Buslavets commented for Bivol. Another former energy minister of Ukraine, Ivan Plachkov, thinks that sanctions should be introduced at least against the top management and the Russian nuclear experts stationed at Zaporizhzhia. Former chairman of Ukraine’s nuclear regulator Grigoriy Plachkov told Bivol that Rosatom will have to pay reparations to cover for the damages caused by the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl nuclear power plants.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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‘Rosatom’ is among Vladimir Putin’s key energy weapons (Image: Die Welt)<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the weekend of 19-20 November Europe’s largest nuclear power plant of Zaporizhzhia in the South-Eastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar was shelled yet again by Russian armed forces. The shelling damaged one of its facilities containing nuclear fuel.<\/p>\n

The shelling is yet another terror attack coming only a month and a half after president Vladimir Putin signed a number of executive orders (see below<\/em>) declaring the Ukrainian power plant \u201dRussian federal property\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government must ensure that the facilities utilising nuclear energy at Zaporizhzhia and all other relevant assets needed for their operation will become property of the state,\u201d says the executive order of the Russian president, who is engaged in an illegal war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin’s actions amount to the legalisation of a military invasion of an energy infrastructure facility on the territory of another UN member state, a state that is also member of the Council of Europe and a candidate for EU membership. It must be emphasised that Putin’s order involves the illegal nationalisation or confiscation of foreign state property and that all his executive orders to that effect are illegal, injudicial and in breach of international norms. The move was immediately condemned by Kyiv authorities as<\/p>\n

\u201cfutile, absurd and inadequate\u201d.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Image: UN delegation visiting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant<\/p><\/div>\n

It has been revealed that one of the companies was registered two days before Putin issued his orders \u2013 on 2 October 2022. The other one was registered two days after the decrees were signed. It is interesting to observe how Russian institutions are starting to forge documents in an attempt to legalise the pirated strategic infrastructure of a foreign country only days after the master of the Kremlin announced the takeover in his official executive order.<\/p>\n

Bivol has been given access to documents in the official corporate registry of the Russian Federation. They reveal Moscow’s formal approach to the registration of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant \u2013 as a joint stock company and a state enterprise officially based at two different addresses. The legitimacy of those actions is however not recognised by international institutions such as the International Atomic Energy Agency<\/strong> (IAEA)<\/p>\n

Sham company set up for Zaporizhzhia power plant – its capital is just 8,000 euro<\/h1>\n

On 3 October a new legal entity was set up by the obscure Russian state enterprise \u0410\u043a\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u0435\u0440\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u041e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e \u00ab\u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u043a\u043e\u043d\u0446\u0435\u0440\u043d \u043f\u043e \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0438\u0437\u0432\u043e\u0434\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0443 \u044d\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0440\u0438\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0438 \u0442\u0435\u043f\u043b\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0439 \u044d\u043d\u0435\u0440\u0433\u0438\u0438 \u043d\u0430 \u0430\u0442\u043e\u043c\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u0446\u0438\u044f\u0445\u00bb (\u201cRussian joint stock company for the production of nuclear and thermal energy from nuclear power plants\u201c or Rosenergoatom). The new entity was named \u0410\u043a\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u0435\u0440\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e\u00a0\u00ab\u042d\u043a\u0441\u043f\u043b\u0443\u0430\u0442\u0438\u0440\u0443\u044e\u0449\u0430\u044f \u043e\u0440\u0433\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0437\u0430\u0446\u0438\u044f \u0417\u0430\u043f\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0436\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0410\u042d\u0421\u00bb\u00a0(\u201eOrganisation for the Exploitation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant\u201c). The move had not been discussed at a meeting of the Russian federal government, nor in either of the two parliamentary chambers. Data from the Russian company registries shows that Rosenergoatom is a subsidiary of the state corporation Rosatom.<\/p>\n