Rosatom State Corporation was able to transfer to Turkey about $5 billion needed for the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey. The money went through the sanctioned Sberbank and Sovcombank, Bloomberg claims , citing sources and a statement by the state corporation.
Rosatom transferred money to the accounts of its Turkish "daughter", which is engaged in the construction of nuclear power plants – we are talking about Akkuyu Nuclear. The publication claims that the money was received on the accounts of the "daughter" last week, two more transfers of a similar volume should be received this week. At the same time, the sources of the agency from the Turkish side stated that the transfers are made in US dollars.
The state-owned company itself confirmed the fact of the transfer of funds to the agency, noting that the amounts are “significantly lower than those that were reported to you by Turkish representatives.” In a statement, Rosatom also stressed that the Turkish nuclear power plant is currently the largest project of its kind in the world. The company refused to disclose other details of the project. So far, Rosatom and its subsidiaries have not been sanctioned by Western countries, but agent banks – Sberbank and Sovcombank – are under sanctions. How the banks from the sanctions lists were able to transfer in US dollars, the agency does not report.
Akkuyu is one of Rosatom's largest projects and a critical future energy source for Turkey. The authorities expect that the launch of the nuclear power plant will provide approximately 10% of the energy consumption of the entire republic. Rosatom is implementing the project alone: 100% of the project belongs to a Russian state-owned company, while Turkish sources told the agency that the state-owned company has reserved funds and is ready to build the project on its own, without involving partners. Rosatom itself previously stated that they were ready to consider the sale of 49% of Akkuyu, but in the absence of interest, they were ready to complete the project on their own.
The Turkish authorities feared that the project would be delayed due to the war in Ukraine, including due to funding problems. One of the officials the agency spoke with called the decision to proceed with the project a "goodwill gesture" from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi on August 5.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $20 billion, the first work began in 2018, in 2020 work began on the construction of the second reactor. The nuclear power plant is expected to be fully commissioned by 2026. The design capacity of the project after the launch of all power units is estimated at 4,800 megawatts.