DISINFO: US will blackmail Belarusian authorities over the nuclear power plant
SUMMARY
The US will likely start openly blackmailing Belarusian authorities over the nuclear power plant. Their ultimatum will demand that Belarus either shuts down the station or imports nuclear fuel from the U.S. The U.S. will use the Belarusian NPP as a political tool for blackmailing and pressing Lukashenka. If he does not comply with the US’ ultimatum, he will likely face a new package of economic sanctions.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory about the Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astravets and the US presence in Europe. US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal has indeed said that “in the future, American fuel suppliers could partly supply fuel” to Belarusian NPP which “is already being done at some power plants around the world.” However the assumption about the upcoming political pressure and introduction of economic sanctions in case of Belarusian denial to import nuclear fuel from the U.S. is groundless. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Lithuania fights against Belarusian NPP on the orders of Sweden and Finland, Dalia Grybauskaitė's opposition to the NPP is an attempt to hide Lithuania's own failures in nuclear power, that the "Chernobyl" series aimed to discredit the Belarusian power plant and Belarus-Russia relations and that Latvia plans to buy electricity at Russian border to disrupt Belarusian-Russia relations.