Atomic contact: Putin and Mirziyoyev launched the construction of a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended the launch ceremony of the Jizzakh nuclear power plant via video link. The integrated plant project is unique in that, for the first time, small and large-capacity nuclear power plants will be built on the same site. Uzbekistan is a strategic partner and ally of Russia in the Central Asian region. See the Izvestia article about how the dialogue between the two countries is developing and what challenges they face.

Laying the foundation for the NPP

The day before the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum turned out to be an eventful one in Vladimir Putin's schedule. Following a heated conversation with journalists from international agencies, the Russian president met with Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the same Konstantinovsky Palace, who traditionally became an honorary guest of the SPIEF.

The communication began with the fact that politicians launched the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Jizzakh region of Uzbekistan via video link.

— Today we have a very pleasant event. This is laying the foundation for the future of a large, powerful facility — a nuclear power plant, the first Russian—designed nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan," Putin said. — I know that you have worked a lot on this personally, and you have been diving into the details for a long time. I am sure that we have chosen the most suitable option for Uzbekistan out of all those offered.

Putin thanked Mirziyoyev for taking the time to come to St. Petersburg to participate in the SPIEF.

— You are our main guest, and tomorrow we will have the opportunity to talk about problems and bilateral economic ties in public, discuss issues related to the situation in the region and in the world. We are very curious to hear your opinion about the events taking place in the economy," the Russian leader said.

The Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, made a video presentation from the NPP construction site.

The plant project in Uzbekistan is unique: for the first time, small and large—capacity nuclear power plants will be built on the same site - with two power units based on VVER-1000 reactors and a power unit consisting of two RITM-200N reactors with a capacity of 55 MW each.

The close cooperation between Tashkent and Moscow in the field of nuclear energy goes back to the Soviet era, when the country had a single school of nuclear scientists, Daria Saprynskaya, a researcher at the Institute of Atomic Energy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia. Today, only Russia has an operating small-module station and, accordingly, the experience of creating such projects.

— I think it is very important for Uzbekistan that they will be able not just to launch a construction site, but to create an entire industry. If the country has experience in operating small—module stations, they will export it in the future," the expert explained.

How are relations between Russia and Uzbekistan developing?

The current meeting between Vladimir Putin and Shavkat Mirziyoyev was the third in recent times. The head of Uzbekistan came to Moscow for the celebration on May 9, and then the heads of state met at the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union in Astana at the end of May. Regular face-to-face contacts are the clearest indication of how close the relations between the two countries are.

Uzbekistan is a strategic partner and ally of Russia in the Central Asian region. The relations are characterized by an intensive and trusting political dialogue and are traditionally friendly.

Large Russian energy companies have been operating efficiently in the republic for a long time: Gazprom and Lukoil are developing gas fields, Tatneft and Zarubezhneft are engaged in petrochemical production, refining, fuel supply, and increasing the productivity of oil fields.

Stanislav Pritchin, Head of the Central Asia Sector at the IMEMO RAS, notes that the two countries do not have fundamental contradictions. There are only certain points of tension.

— They are simply conditioned by a very high degree of interdependence. Migration is one of these topics. Because, on the one hand, this is one of the fundamental areas of our cooperation, but due to the fact that the main composition of labor migrants from Uzbekistan in Russia are guys from the provinces, their training and adaptation to the Russian market are rather weak, they do not know Russian well and the peculiarities of life in Russia. This creates certain difficulties in adaptation, integration, and violations of the law," he said in an interview with Izvestia.

At the same time, the authorities of both countries are trying to jointly resolve these issues by developing training measures for specialists back in Uzbekistan, the expert noted. But there is still a lot to be done in order to harmonize this aspect of cooperation as much as possible.

Uzbekistan has a fairly balanced foreign policy, Pritchin emphasizes. Russia and China remain key trading partners.

— If you look at the statistics of trade turnover, from time to time we overtake China. In terms of investments, it's about the same story. The Chinese and Russian level of presence in the Uzbek economy is unattainable for other foreign policy competitors. Although there are attempts. We see that the United States is trying to push its interests, especially now, under Trump. Turkey is trying to expand, but it still has a fairly limited trade turnover and investments," the analyst said.

The EU is increasing pressure on Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, to block their trade with Russia. Brussels regularly accuses companies from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan of supplying dual-use goods for the Russian military-industrial complex and allegedly circumventing sanctions against the Russian Federation. However, this policy does not bring the necessary results for Europe.