Russia's Dangerous Nuclear "Diplomacy"

by Debalina Ghoshal  •  November 27, 2017 at 4:00 am

• Russia's state owned nuclear energy organization, Rosatom, of Uranium One celebrity, has been trying to develop nuclear cooperation with most of the Middle East countries.
• Russia would undertake building and operating the nuclear power plants – then start influencing the foreign policy decisions of the country supposedly to "protect" the nuclear power plants from terrorists, and from there to project military influence in the region as it has done in Syria. Russia has already strengthened its defense and military cooperation with Iran and Turkey.
• Middle Eastern countries seem as eager to partner with a great power such as Russia as Russia does to partner with them. That way, "everyone" in the region could enjoy greater influence, militarily and otherwise.

The Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant, in Iran. (Photo by IIPA via Getty Images)

Russia has been trying to relieve itself of the economic slowdown it has faced ever since the West imposed sanctions on it for invading the Ukraine. To that end, Russia's state owned nuclear energy organization, Rosatom, of Uranium One stardom, has been attempting to develop nuclear cooperation with most of the countries in the Middle East. Russia apparently considers the Middle East and North Africa two of the most lucrative markets; countries in the Middle East have already expressed interest in building 90 nuclear power plants at twenty-six sites across the region by 2030.

The Russian government has strongly supported the success of a company globally. Rosatom, for instance, already opened a regional office in Dubai, even though the United Arab Emirates does not have nuclear cooperation with Russia and cooperates with South Korea instead.

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