Nikolay Podlevskikh, head of Analytical Department of Zerich Capital Management

– Russia and the Untied States are making different political gestures of good will before the meeting of the US and Russian presidents

On May 26 2009, Techsnabexport OJSC (Tenex) and three companies of Fuelco LLC (the United States) signed three long-term contracts for the supply of enriched uranium. The contracts were signed at the central office of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation in the presence of Director General of the Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko. These contracts are the first since the adoption of an amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation in 2008. The contracts envisage direct supply of enriched uranium to the three US companies in 2014–2020. The uranium will be supplied from one of the four Russian plants having modern highly efficient centrifuges and based on the high scientific-technical potential of the Russian enrichment industry. The signing of the contracts is the result of the effective cooperation between the US companies and Tenex in the last few years.

It is clear that commerce is prevalent in this deal. Russia and the United States are making different political gestures of good will before the meeting of the US and Russian presidents but they started preparing for this deal long before it.

Our positions on the nuclear fuel market are quite strong. We have supplied, supply and will supply nuclear fuel to different countries.

If further developed, the cooperation with the United States in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy will be a good stimulus for our cooperation in other sectors. Today, our trade with Europe and even China is deeper than with the USA. And, as you may know, economic ties are the best glue for political relations.