Russia said Thursday that it will extend Belarus a loan that will help the former Soviet republic build its first nuclear power plant since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Russia
said
Thursday that it will extend
Belarus
a
loan that will help the former Soviet republic build its first nuclear power plant
since the 1986
Chernobyl
disaster.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said following talks with his Belarussian
counterpart Mikhail Myasnikovich that the plant would help
Belarus
establish energy independence and move away from its reliance on Russian oil.
"We understand that it is a very important project for
Belarus
. It
increases the energy independence of the republic," Putin said. "The
Russian side is ready [to help
Belarus
]
realize this project. The project is big, nearly $6 billion, and we are ready
solve the issue of a loan."
The Belarussian prime minister said the basic terms of the construction project
"will be agreed in the first quarter" of this year.
It wasn't immediately clear how much money
Russia
was
lending its traditional ally for the project.
The nuclear power plant's construction was first envisioned in the early 1980s
but then put on hold by the
Soviet Union
following the
Chernobyl
nuclear power plant disaster in
Ukraine
. Official
Belarussian data estimate that about 70% of the fallout from the reactor
explosion landed in
Belarus
.
The project was resurrected in recent years following a series of energy
disputes between
Russia
and
Belarus
that
involved both oil and natural gas, with some of the shipment interruptions also
affecting European countries.
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