Putin Profits From US, European Reliance on Russian Nuclear Fuel

By MARTHA MENDOZA and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and its European allies are importing vast amounts of nuclear compounds and products from Russia, giving Moscow hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue as it wages war on Ukraine.

Trade data and experts say Russia sold $1.7 billion in nuclear products to firms in the U.S. and Europe.

The sales have raised alarms from nonproliferation experts and elected officials who say the imports help to bankroll the development of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal and complicate efforts to curtail Russia’s war-making abilities.

The dependence on Russian uranium and other nuclear products leaves the U.S. and its allies open to energy shortages if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to cut supplies.

“It is critical that we stop funding Russia’s state-owned nuclear monopoly, Rosatom,” said Sen. John Barrasso, the Wyoming Republican who introduced legislation earlier this year to fund America’s nuclear fuel supply chain. “We also need to give America’s nuclear fuel suppliers market certainty.”