Nuclear charge: Putin called the nuclear industry key to Russia's defense capability

The nuclear industry remains key to ensuring Russia's defense capability, and the country has already created a whole branch of knowledge, production and technology that have become the foundation of the very existence of the state. Vladimir Putin said this on August 22 during a conversation with nuclear scientists in Sarov. Russia is at the forefront of the development of thermonuclear fusion technologies, and high-power quantum computers make it possible to develop new medicines, vaccines, and materials. At the same time, there is no reason to doubt the success of cooperation with foreign companies and the return of Western partners to Russia: Russia even continues to supply nuclear fuel to unfriendly countries, the president said.

80th anniversary of the nuclear industry

In Russia, these days mark the 80th anniversary of the creation of the nuclear industry: the starting point is August 20, 1945. At that time, a special committee was formed under the USSR State Defense Committee to coordinate work on the atomic program.

This date also coincided with Vladimir Putin's trip on August 22 to the closed nuclear city of Sarov, located in the Nizhny Novgorod region, where the country's nuclear industry was born.

It is now home to one of the key enterprises of the country's nuclear weapons complex, the Russian Federal Nuclear Center, the All—Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF) Rosatom. Its main task is to ensure and maintain the reliability and security of the country's nuclear weapons. It was he who became the city—forming enterprise of Sarov, which ensures economic development - about 50% of the population works here.

The President arrived in Sarov in the late afternoon. Here, Vladimir Putin laid a bouquet of scarlet roses at the monument to Soviet and Russian scientist Yuli Khariton, one of the creators of the Soviet atomic project and the first scientific director of the nuclear center.

— I bow low to the veterans [of the nuclear industry], to whom we owe our security, powerful technological reserve and, in fact, independent, sovereign development. With their talent and titanic will, they created a solid nuclear shield for our country and were the first in the world to ensure that a peaceful atom worked for the benefit of the country and all mankind," Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with nuclear scientists and employees of enterprises.

Today, the nuclear industry remains key to ensuring Russia's defense capability and the development of many industries, he stressed. The President called it a great achievement that Russia has already established a branch of knowledge, production, and technology that has become one of the foundations of the very existence of the Russian state. Putin also called Sarov the center of science of the future, which is being implemented by Rosatom, and the state corporation itself a global leader in the nuclear industry.

According to him, it was Russian scientists who first launched the "safest generation 3+ reactors" into mass production. Moreover, Russia is at the forefront of the development of fusion technologies. In general, interest in engineering specialties in Russia is increasing, the president noted.

— Quantum computers can develop new drugs, vaccines, materials, and quickly process a huge amount of data. Thanks to Rosatom's efforts, prototypes of such systems with huge computing capabilities have already been assembled in Russia," the head of state said.

Alexey Likhachev, the head of Rosatom, presented Vladimir Putin with an album dedicated to the president's trips to Sarov. The binding of the album is decorated with a quote from the president: "The bear will not give his taiga to anyone." The last time Putin visited here was in September 2023, and before that he came in 2003, 2012, 2014 and 2020.

Separately, the head of state got acquainted with the successes of the development of scientific centers: the president visited the exhibition on scientific and educational infrastructure not only in Sarov, but also in Snezhinsk and other closed cities — in Lesnoye, Zheleznogorsk and Obninsk. The President was presented with detailed models of Russian high-tech research centers in their development. In addition, he was told about the successes of the Sarov National Center for Physics and Mathematics, where megascience class installations are being created. Snezhinsk is training design engineers and researchers for the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics, which is forging the country's nuclear shield.

An educational infrastructure is being created in Lesnoy using the "from school to enterprise" system, where specialists will be trained for the military-industrial circuit of the Urals and Electrochemistry. Obninsk plans to create a loyal technological elite of Russia's partner countries through education, increasing the number of international students to 500,000 by 2030. And in Zheleznogorsk, they intend to train 5.5 thousand specialists by 2035 for Rosatom and Roscosmos.

— This is one of the leading industries in Russia, we are one of the most knowledge-intensive countries in the world. In this regard, the Russian nuclear industry is absolutely competitive internationally and implements breakthrough technologies in many areas. For example, Russia is the only country that has been able to create a nuclear icebreaking fleet, which is extremely important for the development of the North and the protection of our interests. Russia is the only one that has created floating nuclear power units, which are now being successfully operated," Alexander Spiridonov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade, told Izvestia.

Development of relations with the United States after negotiations

At the meeting with the president, the nuclear scientists were particularly interested in the situation after the recent talks between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States: how to further build relations with the Western world and whether there is a chance to hope for constructive, pragmatic cooperation.

Vladimir Putin noted that Russia as a whole does not have unfriendly countries, there are only "unfriendly elites in some states." At the same time, there is no doubt about the return of Western companies to Russia. Moreover, Russia even continues to supply nuclear fuel to these countries, he said.

— We provide, and in the same volumes. Some new things are emerging in the field of nuclear medicine and other related fields. It's the way it was, and it is," the president noted.

Now much in this matter depends on Western partners, he noted. In this context, Vladimir Putin recalled his last meeting with Donald Trump. The Russian President called it very "good, informative and frank."

"I really hope that the first steps that have been taken are just the beginning of a full—scale restoration of our relations," the president said.

Now the Russian Federation and the United States continue to contact at the departmental level after the Alaska summit. For example, Russia is already discussing the possibility of working with the United States in the context of obtaining liquefied natural gas, not only in the Russian Arctic zone, but also in Alaska.

"The thing that prevents us from developing is, of course, sanctions,— the president said.

According to him, the West is trying to fight our successes through "absolutely undignified means." However, this will not stop the Russian Federation.

Over the past year, Russia, for example, has reached the first level in terms of supplies of enriched uranium in trade with the United States. The market volume is already over $700 million. In this regard, we have even overtaken France, a long—time partner of the United States, said Alexander Spiridonov.

The issues of Russia's defense capability are largely related to the exploration and use of northern latitudes, the president noted. Today, no country has such a nuclear icebreaking fleet as the Russian Federation. Thus, Russian nuclear submarines in the Arctic have a strategic advantage. According to the president, four more icebreakers will appear in the country in the near future.

The number of traffic along the Northern Sea Route will grow along with the increase in navigation volumes. In transportation along this route
Many states around the world are interested, and therefore it needs to be developed. Another advantage of the northern latitudes lies in the huge reserves of mineral resources concentrated there. Vladimir Putin noted that work is underway in this direction.