Do you think the Russians care one iota about respecting U.S. law?
Well, you probably don’t, but President Joe Biden’s Energy Department is under the impression that President Vladimir Putin and his ilk will honor U.S. law as it relates to sensitive nuclear energy technology in Ukraine.
Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom took over Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, after it invaded. On Tuesday, CNN reported that the Department of Energy (DOE) sent Russia an official letter on March 17, 2023, explaining that the power plant “contains US-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the [U.S.] Government” and could undermine U.S. national security if it fell into the wrong hands.
Ukrainian crew members are currently staffing the power plant while Russia manages it. It was taken off the Ukrainian grid for security purposes.
Per the media outlet, the DOE also let Russia know, “It is unlawful under United States law for non-authorized persons, including, but not limited to, Russian citizens and Russian entities, such as Rosatom and its subsidiaries, to knowingly and willfully access, possess, control, export, store, seize, review, re-export, ship, transfer, copy, manipulate such technology or technical data, or direct, or authorize others to do the same, without such Russian entities becoming authorized recipients by the Secretary of the US Department of Energy.”
At first glance, that letter reads more like the old FBI warning about copying and redistributing VHS tapes than any stern warning of international importance.
Of course, to state the obvious, it was also in violation of Ukrainian law for Russia to invade in the first place, but that didn’t stop the Kremlin from barging right into the country and wreaking havoc. In fact, for seven years straight now, Biden and his Democratic Party have warned that Russia does not respect the American way of life nor its laws and democracy.
It should be noted that as of October 2022, there was “no record of any current authorization to transfer this technology and technical data to any Russian national or entity,” according to the DOE.
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So, what exactly is this letter going to accomplish? Why would Russia — a country that the U.S. will help Ukraine fight until the end of World War III — care about U.S. law?
Isn’t it likely that Russia, alongside its new buddy China, is working around the clock to extract this data in ways unsusceptible to U.S. intelligence?
The real kicker in all of this is highlighted by CNN’s last line. The U.S. has been assisting Ukraine’s nuclear energy plant for quite some time out in the open.
In June 2021, the DOE’s website said that the U.S. “helped implement new maintenance procedures and operations at the reactor that should ultimately strengthen energy security” in Ukraine.
So, the Biden administration is intent on helping Ukraine achieve energy security, yet is content to weaken American energy independence by dismantling our fossil fuels industry and making us rely on foreign nations. In other words: Ukraine first. America last.
