The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), with six reactors, is Europe's largest nuclear power facility and has been under Russian control since March 2022.
Six months later, the Zaporizhzhia region voted to join Russia in a referendum that the United States did not recognize; Washington still refers to the plant's location as “Energodar, Ukraine.”
“Today’s expansion of mandatory secondary sanctions will reduce Russia’s access to revenue and goods,” US Treasury Undersecretary Wally Adeyemo said on January 15, stressing that the measures are aimed at hindering the Kremlin’s ability to procure goods needed to produce weapons for its conflict with Ukraine.
However, ZNPP spokeswoman Evgenya Yashina told TASS news agency: “The safe operation of the Zaporizhzhia plant and its employees will not be affected by being included in the US sanctions list.”
The plant has been largely offline since mid-2023 due to the threat of Ukrainian artillery and drone attacks, as well as disruptions in water supplies following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River.
The sanctions against ZNPP were imposed not only because of the Ukrainian conflict but also based on another decree, which accused Russia of carrying out “malign foreign activities”, including “attempts to undermine the process of holding free and fair elections and democratic institutions” in the West.
In addition to ZNPP, the US Treasury Department also sanctioned the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) and the Patriot Exhibition Center at Patriot Park outside Moscow.
Among the 16 individuals added to the sanctions list on January 15 were 14 Russians, one Chinese citizen residing in Germany, and one Turkish citizen. Several Chinese, Turkish, and UAE companies, as well as Kyrgyz banks, were added to the list for alleged “sanctions evasion.”
Washington imposes sanctions globally, threatening third parties with sanctions if they trade with Russia.
Moscow has long insisted that the restrictions imposed by the US and its allies are unilateral, illegal and have no legal validity. Beijing has also rejected Washington's sanctions as illegal and vowed to defend China's interests by any means necessary.
