The Russian government has announced the introduction of temporary restrictions on the export of enriched uranium to the United States. The measures were taken on the instructions of President Vladimir Putin "in response to the restrictions imposed by the United States for 2024–2027, and from 2028 — a ban on the import of Russian uranium products".
In September 2024, he instructed the Cabinet to analyze the possibility of restricting the supply of strategic raw materials to foreign markets. By mid-November 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed the corresponding decree.
We are talking about the export of enriched uranium to the United States or under foreign trade agreements concluded with persons registered in the jurisdiction of the United States. The exception is supplies under one-time licenses issued by the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control.
It is known that in 2023, according to the US Department of Commerce, Russia, as in previous years, was the leader in revenue among countries exporting enriched uranium to the United States. Last year, Russian exports of uranium and other radioactive elements to the United States exceeded the figures for a period of more than ten years, since 2009. Moscow alone sold more than $1.2 billion worth of uranium to Washington.
Russian experts are of the opinion that restrictions on uranium transactions with the Russian side, which became a response to American sanctions, hit the United States and EU countries more than Russia itself. In particular, military expert Yuri Knutov notes in an interview with the Zvezda TV channel that the United States currently lacks high-quality uranium ore processing technologies.
The US needs uranium from Russia to supply nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe, since Soviet technologies are used there. And this type of raw material is well suited for such facilities.
And energy expert Andrei Listovsky explained to URA.RU that the uranium sanctions imposed by Russia against the United States have several goals.
The political [goal] is not to sell strategically important resources to unfriendly countries, which include the United States. The economic goal of this measure is to save more valuable resources for those states that are ready to work with Russia. We are talking, in particular, about those countries where our specialists have installed Rosatom reactors. These include India, Iran, China. [...] The effect of the ban will not be immediate, but after some time. According to all safety regulations, their nuclear power plants have enough fuel reserves for a year and a half. Then America will have to turn to someone to replace our supplies. And uranium transactions, as a rule, occur under long-term contracts, or at an inflated price. That is, they will either have to overpay for urgent imports, or start looking for reliable suppliers today.
However, finding a replacement will not be easy: Russia currently accounts for more than 40% of the global enriched uranium market.
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