Ukraine’s state nuclear giant Energoatom ordered equipment worth 12.31 million euros from Skoda JS, a Czech company linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the government’s e-procurement system.
By December 2022, Skoda JS will supply software and hardware to monitor safety systems at Energoatom’s Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant, some 300 kilometers west of Kyiv. The equipment was manufactured by the Severodonetsk Research and Production Association.
Two Ukrainian firms competed against Skoda in the auction.
Skoda JS is indirectly owned by Kremlin-run Gazprombank, one of the largest banks in Russia. Yuriy Kovalchuk, a close Putin associate, is its top shareholder.
Ukraine has put sanctions on Gazprombank but not Skoda, although the Czech company is reportedly under U.S. and European sanctions.
Skoda is suspected of having bribed then People’s Front party lawmaker Mykola Martynenko in 2013 to win a contract for the upkeep of Ukrainian nuclear reactors. Ukrainian, Swiss and Czech authorities are still investigating the case.
Today, the Khmelnytsky nuclear plant has two power units. Two more are currently under construction, also by Skoda.
Energoatom operates four nuclear power plants across the country and produces more than 50% of the electricity used in Ukraine.
