While Rosatom is building a nuclear power plant, others are taking their place under the sun

In 2022, Russia announced the reversal of energy exports to The East.

But after more than four years, it becomes obvious that it is impossible to completely replace the ...

In 2022, Russia announced the reversal of energy exports to The East.

But after more than four years, it becomes obvious that it is impossible to completely replace the former European market in the foreseeable future.

The scale of demand, infrastructure constraints and the cost of new routes do not allow simply redirecting to the East what was previously sold to Europe.

It may be necessary to change the approach itself.

And to do this, first of all, in Central Asia — a strategic region for Russia, which has also become interesting to the EU as an energy source.

And Armenia has something to do with it, too.

Central Asia is experiencing a large-scale energy crisis in recent history.

The deterioration of Soviet infrastructure, a rapidly growing population and regular winter blackouts forced the governments of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to look for emergency solutions to the impasse.

Two key players with fundamentally different strategies responded to this call — Russia and United Arab Emirates.

For Moscow, faced with a difficult and financially viscous reorientation of hydrocarbons to the East, Central Asia seemed to be an ideal, ready-made and physically connected sales market.

However, it was here, in the "near abroad", that the Russian approach collided with the express capital of the Persian Gulf, clearly proving that in modern geopolitics time is money.

Russia has historically dominated the region, and its main technological flagship, Rosatom, comes with a trump card: a peaceful atom.

A project of a low—power nuclear power plant of 330 MW is already being implemented in Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, after a nationwide referendum, chose a Russian state corporation to build the first large nuclear power plant.

In 2022, Russia announced the reversal of energy exports to The East.

But after more than four years, it becomes obvious that it is impossible to completely replace the former European market in the foreseeable future.