Will US sanctions on Russia's Rosatom affect Eskom?

Russian state-owned Nuclear Cooperation Rasotom, a company that signed a Cooperation Agreement on a human-centric approach to personnel training with Eskom, has been hit by the US sanctions on the Russian energy sector.

According to the US government, the sanctions are meant to constrain Russia’s ability to wage war and thwart sanctions evasion following the Russian military operation in Ukraine.  

Among affected entities are senior officials of Rosatom, including its CEO, Alexei Likhachev, for allegedly being a key revenue source for Russia, citing that the company and its associated entities are developing weapons systems for the war in Ukraine and providing military equipment for the Russian defence industry.

On the implications of the sanctions, it was not clear whether they would impact the deal as Eskom did not respond to IOL by the time of publication.

In 2024, Rosatom and Eskom signed a road map to cooperate on Human-Centricity and increase employment for African graduates of Russian universities at COP28 in Dubai.

In a statement issued on March 24, 2024, Eskom said the agreement included joint education programs for employees, joint degree programs among Rosatom and Eskom partner universities, and business education, particularly the hydrogen train-the-trainers program developed by Rosatom.

“The Parties agreed on co-programming the Obninsk Tech School for Women in STEM, which takes place in June (2024) in the town of Obninsk, which celebrates the 70th anniversary of the world’s first nuclear power plant.

“Moreover, the Plan recognises the Parties’ leadership in empowering women and youth, and therefore, establishes the basis for the integration of the Eskom Women Advancement Programme and Rosatom’s “[In]Visible Power” Women Leadership Programme. 

“The Plan also highlights secondment of engineering competencies and development of championships for professional skills, including AtomSkills. The Plan contributes to practical steps towards bringing highly qualified and talented African graduates from Russian universities to Eskom enterprises across the continent,” read the statement.

In response to the US sanctions, Rosatom said the sanctions were “unlawful and seen as a form of unfair competition from unfriendly countries. 

"Sanctions targeting Rosatom's management are regarded as unfounded and unlawful. Today, Rosatom is a global leader in the export of nuclear energy technologies, so the sanctions are seen as a form of unfair competition from unfriendly states," it said in a statement.

Approached for comment, the Russian embassy in Pretoria referred to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement as the response where he mentioned that the US sanctions demonstrated the US’s refusal to engage in a fair economic competition.

IOL