On April 27, Lithuanian leader Gitanas Nauseda had a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. The presidents discussed the Eastern Partnership agenda.
During the conversation, the head of state reaffirmed Lithuania’s stance on the safety of the nuclear power plant that is being constructed in Belarus as well as the country’s decision not to buy ‘unsafe’ electricity from the third countries. According to the presidential press service, Nauseda asked Ukraine to reconsider the issue of non-purchase of electricity from the Astravets NPP.
In turn, Zelensky’s office did not include the information about the Belarusian NPP in the official press release.
In November, Ukraine’s Energy and Environmental Protection announced the intention to import 2.1 billion kWh from Belarus in 2020. However, the Ukrainian side then stressed that the import of energy from BelNPP was out of the question.
As part of the preparation for the upcoming Eastern Partnership summit. Gitanas Nauseda are holding talks with the leaders of six EaP countries. A few days ago, he had a video call with Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
The would-be Belarusian NPP with two VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 2,400 MW is being built according to the Russian project near Astravets in Hrodna region. The first power unit is scheduled for 2020, the second second one will be launched in 2021. The public keep being concerned over the unavailability of information about everything that happens at and around the site. It is expected that the NPP will send its used nuclear fuel to Russia, but it will be stored in Belarus for about 10 years before the shipment.
Lithuania is the main critic of the Astravets NPP, which is under construction 50 km from Vilnius. The Lithuanian authorities insist that the facility is being built with violations of safety requirements. Minsk, however, refutes these allegations.
