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Putin Alleges US Interest in Joint Control and Crypto Mining at Occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russia and the United States are discussing the possibility of jointly managing the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as part of negotiations, Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed.
He added that the US side is interested in organizing cryptocurrency mining operations at the plant, while also insisting that electricity generated there be supplied to Ukraine, Russian media outlet Kommersant reported on December 25.
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Speaking at a meeting with representatives of major Russian businesses on December 24, Putin said that Washington and Moscow have explored arrangements for operating the plant.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is the largest nuclear facility in Europe and, before the war, accounted for roughly 20 percent of Ukraine’s electricity generation. The plant is located near the city of Enerhodar on the left bank of the Dnipro River.
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Russian forces seized the facility in the early days of the full-scale invasion in March 2022. By September of that year, all six reactors had been placed into cold shutdown. The Russian leader later transferred control of the plant to Rosenergoatom, a subsidiary of the state nuclear corporation Rosatom, while stating that Ukrainian specialists continued working at the site after being issued Russian passports.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has previously warned that nearly all fundamental principles of nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhia plant are currently being violated. The agency has also said that the six shut-down reactors cannot be safely restarted under existing conditions.
Earlier, at a meeting with journalists, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Ukraine’s 20-point peace plan, calling the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant one of its most difficult elements and saying no compromise has yet been reached with the US side.
During the conference, Zelenskyy mentioned a US proposal under which the plant would be operated jointly by Ukraine, the United States, and Russia, with each holding a 33% share and the US acting as the chief manager.
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