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Vladimir Putin has called on Russian officials to consider restrictions on exports of commodities including uranium, in retaliation against fresh western sanctions against Moscow and its allies.
“Please take a look at some of the types of goods that we supply to the world market . . . Maybe we should think about certain restrictions — uranium, titanium, nickel,” Russia’s president said in a televised meeting with top government officials on Wednesday.
Any curb on sales of enriched uranium could affect western nuclear reactors. Many of them have long-term contracts for supplies from Russia, which accounts for about a third of the world’s uranium enriching capacity, and about 5 per cent of uranium mining.
Putin emphasised that the suggestion was in response to western pressure. “We’re facing restrictions on some imports, so perhaps we should consider imposing certain limitations ourselves,” he said.
“But we must ensure we don’t harm ourselves in the process,” he added.
His remarks follow an escalation in western sanctions against Russia and its allies, China and Iran. Earlier this week, US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell accused China of providing Russia with support for its “war machine”.
While the initial sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were focused on energy products like oil and coal, western allies have this year increasingly targeted Moscow’s metals exports. The US has banned some imports of Russian-origin metals. Leading exchanges in the UK and US are no longer trading any new Russian aluminium, copper or nickel.
“We are in this world that is geopolitically segmenting, and commodities tend to be at the forefront of it,” said Colin Hamilton, metals analyst at BMO Capital Markets, an investment bank.
Potential curbs on uranium exports could be particularly painful, Hamilton added. “This is something the uranium industry has been fearing.”
While the US has already banned imports of enriched uranium from Russia, the ban excludes existing contracts with US utilities.
Russia, meanwhile, cut gas supplies to the EU through the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022, threatening to “freeze” the west. The pipeline was later destroyed by an explosion.
Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, described the comments as “a typical Putin threat”.
“It’s a message to the west: ‘Look, despite all your energy transitions, we’re one of the leaders in rare earth metals, which you need for your shift to green energy. We can cut off those exports, and your plans will fall apart.’”
As western sanctions on Russian commodities ratchet up, more and more of those shipments are heading towards China instead, including for commodities such as coking coal and aluminium.
Russia’s agriculture minister Dmitry Patrushev had earlier claimed that western sanctions on agricultural products benefited Russia’s domestic farming industry.
In 2014, the western response to the annexation of Crimea led Russia to ban imports of vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products originating in the US and the EU.
Russia learned to produce alternatives domestically, or import them from other countries. However the sanctions led to double-digit price increases.
“In the initial phase, unfortunately, there was a rise in domestic prices. But then it spurred the development of agriculture within Russia,” Putin said. “A similar process is now happening in the industry.”