Belarus asks Russia for bn loan to build 2400 MW nuclear plant

Belarus asks Russia for $9bn loan to build 2400 MW nuclear plant

Belarus has asked Russia for a government loan of $9bn for a period of 25 years for the construction of a 2400 MW nuclear power plant.

According Belarus’ First Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Syamashka, Belarus expects to receive deferment of repayment until the plant is completed, that is, until 2017. The loan is to be spent for the construction of both the plant and the necessary infrastructure.

A loan agreement may be signed at a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Belarusian-Russian Union State in March.

The nuclear power plant, which is to have a generating capacity of around 2400 MW, is to be built in the Hrodna region near the Lithuanian border.

The construction of the plant by a Russian company would cost some $6bn, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said following talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Mikhail Myasnikovich, in Moscow on January 20.

"Russia is ready for the implementation of the project," Putin said, noting that Moscow was ready to provide Belarus with a loan for funding the project.  Atomstroiexport, a subsidiary company of Russia's Nuclear Energy State Corporation (Rosatom), was earlier selected by the Belarusian government to be the prime contractor.

Russia initially agreed to provide a $6bn tied loan for the nuclear power plant project, but Minsk wanted the loan to be untied and amount to $9bn.

While meeting with Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Syamashka in Minsk on January 25, Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko said that the construction of the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was expected to be completed in 2017, and that a loan agreement between the finance ministries of the two countries would be signed no later than June.

The plant’s foundation pit will start being excavated in September and the excavation work should be largely over before the end of the year, Kiriyenko said.

Russian hydro power to Finland, Norway

2011-02-17

Northwest Russian electricity generator TGC-1 in 2010 exported a total of 1,3 TWh to Finland and Norway.

The Territorial Generating Company No 1 (TGC-1) – one of the biggest electricity generators in Northwest Russia, in 2010 increased its exports to the neighboring states with 1,2 percent to a total of 1,3 TWh, Oilru.com reports with reference to RIA Novosti.

Between 400-500 GWh of the export to Finland comes from the Lesogorskaya and Svetogorskaya Hydropower Stations in Leningrad Oblast. In addition, Finland also buys power from the Kaitakoski station in the Pasvik River, the border river between Russia and Norway, RIA Novosti writes.

TGC’s exports to Norway come from the Borisgleb station, also that located in the Pasvik River.

In addition to the hydropower, Finland also buys nuclear power from Russia, partly from the Kola Nuclear Power Plant in Polyarnye Zori, Murmansk Oblast.

Text: Atle Staalesen

http://thetrumpet.com/?q=7984.6609.0.0

Russian Defense Ministry officials signed a contract on February 9 with German private defense firm Rheinmetall to construct a combat training facility for Russia’s military on the Mulino base. Russian defense officials have also offered for Rheinmetall to manage the “support, repair and modernization of military equipment.”

Although Rheinmetall is not a part of the German government, the company’s defense sector is Europe’s top supplier of military technology and security equipment for ground troops. The financial and technical details of the contract have not yet been finalized, but it is clear that the planned training center will be engineered to train brigade-size units, which equates to thousands of Russian troops.

The agreement is significant because Rheinmetall is the first foreign company to construct such a training facility in Russia, and the German company has a sobering history. In August 1944, Nazi politicians met with German industrialists—one of whom represented Rheinmetall—to plot the future resurrection of German Nazism.

But the primary significance of the deal lies in its indication of a quickly warming relationship between Moscow and Berlin. Stratfor noted on Wednesday that Russian-German military cooperation is a source of concern for some other countries:

[T]his deal is bound to make the states located between Russia and Germany—particularly Poland and the Baltic states—nervous. To these countries, Russian-German military cooperation of any kind will have the undertones of inter-war cooperation between the German Weimar Republic and the Soviet Union, which allowed Germany to secretly build up its military despite limitations imposed by the Versailles Treaty. These sort of deals are not forgotten in Central Europe, and any deal—no matter how profit-driven or innocuous it may be—will invite careful scrutiny from Germany’s eastern nato allies and could further weaken the binds holding the alliance together.

These states are right to be concerned.

Germany and Russia have been at odds with each other throughout history. The periods of cooperation between them, such as were initiated by the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo and the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, were based on mutual strategic necessity in the lead-up to major conflicts.

In June of 2009, Trumpet columnist Brad Macdonald wrote this:

History is consistent on this point: Germany and Russia are not close friends, and any appearance that they are is a harbinger of conflict …. [T]he formation of a Russian-German axis is currently one of the most significant and underrated trends on the world scene! … Unlike America, the Kremlin is well aware of European history and sees that Germany has restored itself as the dominant power and natural leader of Europe. By forging closer ties with Berlin, the Russians are getting on good terms with the political, military and economic entity that will determine Europe’s future.

History makes plain where a warming Russo-German relationship will lead. If a peace pact results, it will indicate that one or both sides are gearing up for another imperialistic campaign. To learn more about the prophetic significance of the warming relationship between Russia and Germany, read “Russia’s Attack Signals Dangerous New Era.” •