While the Kremlin wages war against Ukraine, radioactive material from Germany finds its way to Russia. A fuel element factory in Lingen in Lower Saxony is the starting point, as SWR found out.
According to the research, uranium-containing products from the factory are shipped by freighter via the port of Rotterdam to Saint Petersburg, among other places. The SWR apparently has corresponding permits from the Dutch authorities for a total of five transports.
The recipient of the radioactive material is a company based near Moscow. The company MSZ (Machinery in Elektrostal) cooperates closely with the Russian military and, according to environmental activist and long-time Navalny employee Alexej Schwarz, has a license to produce nuclear weapons. The radioactive material delivered is processed by MSZ to obtain uranium oxide. Uranium oxide is needed for both nuclear weapons and the operation of nuclear power plants.
The Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment oversees the fuel factory in Lingen, but is bound by federal and EU law. Since there are currently no EU sanctions against Russia in the nuclear sector, it has no legal recourse at the state level to prevent the transports, Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) told SWR. The Federal Environment Ministry also refers to the European legal situation.
