Rosatom demands from Finland to return a loan of €920.5 million after the termination of the contract for nuclear power plants

Rosatom demanded that the Finnish energy company Fennovoima close the loan for €920.5 million ahead of schedule after the unilateral termination of the contract for the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 nuclear power plant. The Finnish side in the spring of 2022 demanded €1.7 billion from the Russian, the state corporation responded filed lawsuits totaling €3 billion.

The requirements of Rosatom for early closure of the loan became known from the report of the Atomenergoprom group (part of the state corporation) under IFRS for 2022 (.pdf). The document states that “group organizations have filed claims for early repayment of the loan provided by Fennovoima Oy.” The report indicates that the Finnish energy company was previously issued a loan of €920.5 million. It is unclear whether this amount is included in the six claims of Rosatom for €3 billion, which were previously known.

The Hanhikivi-1 NPP is an unrealized project of a single-unit nuclear power plant in Finland. The application for the construction of the station was submitted to the government of the republic in 2015. In May, the Finnish side terminated the contract, citing “significant delays” from Rosatom, as well as the conflict in Ukraine, which allegedly aggravated the situation. Rosatom believes that Finland had no reason to terminate the contract. Director of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev called Helsinki’s decision is political. He called on the “Finnish bosses” to realize their worldview at their own expense and return the money to Russia.

Leonid Uvarchev