Russia ratifies amendments to Belarus-Russia loan agreement to finance BelNPP project

MOSCOW, 25 September (BelTA) – On 25 September the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia ratified a protocol that amends the Belarus-Russia intergovernmental agreement dated 25 November 2011 on providing Belarus with a state export loan to build the nuclear power plant, BelTA reports.

On 20 September, the document was ratified by the Russian State Duma. Thus, both chambers of the Russian parliament completed ratification of the protocol that was signed at the beginning of March 2023.

The protocol was needed because the deadline for commissioning the Belarusian NPP was pushed forward. During the ratification in the upper house of the Russian parliament, it was noted that the document extends the loan period by one year until the end of 2023 and moves forward the start of the loan principal repayment from 1 April 2023 to 1 April 2024. In addition to that, taking into account payment restrictions in U.S. dollars and euros that were imposed on Russia, the parties agreed that the loan would be repaid by Belarus exclusively in Russian rubles.

According to member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Yelena Afanasyeva, there are no overdue obligations of the Belarusian side under the agreement. The Belarusian side has already ratified this protocol.

The protocol has been temporarily applied since March 2023, which enables Belarus to continue financing the project.