In a statement, Rosneft’s law firm Malmendier Legal said such an expropriation would be “unprecedented in Germany’s post-war history” and that the Kremlin-controlled company would take “all necessary measures” to protect the rights of its shareholders.

The European Commission set up a European SMR pre-Partnership in June last year with the overall objective of identifying enabling conditions and constraints,

Russia is interested in “how scrupulously” German authorities will approach the investigation given Germany “has lost a lot due to this terrorist attack,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, when asked about Sweden’s decision, according to Interfax.

Industrial production fell in December by 1.6% compared with the previous month. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.4% fall.

Volatility has become a dominant feature of Europe’s market as it transforms into an international hub for gas trading.

The US was the supplier of 56% of the total, with some 14% coming from Russia and 10% from Algeria. Notably, around 7% was also originating from Qatar and 4% from Nigeria.

Russian gas continues to flow to the European Union through Ukraine under the current deal. Some nations still rely on this fuel, while most of northwest Europe has replaced flows from Moscow with cargoes of liquefied natural gas.

Nuclear advocates have pushed for SMRs for more than a decade, but so far Russia is the only country to put them into commercial use.

Europe is benefiting from record renewables power installations last year, together with massive gas stockpiling and a relatively mild winter — some cold snaps aside.

Currently, about 15% of Britain's energy needs are met by nuclear power, a drop from 27% in the 1990s as older plants have been decommissioned and new ones are taking time to build.

For the ITER project, which is under construction in Cadarache in southern France, Russia's responsibilities include manufacturing 179 of the most energy intensive (up to 5 MW per square metre) panels of the first wall, which is 40% of the total area of ​​the reactor wall.

Nuclear's share of energy in the UK is currently about 16%, however all but one of its existing reactors are due to retire by 2030.

France and Sweden will "promote a regulatory, industrial and financial framework favourable to the realisation of nuclear installation projects with a high level of safety and ensuring institutional support for nuclear energy in compliance with the principle of technological neutrality and with the objective of strengthening Europe's sovereignty and energy security".

South Korea’s industry ministry said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dutch Economic Affairs ministry to support the new plant order. KHNP signed a memorandum of understanding with the Netherlands’ Economic Affairs & Climate Policy Ministry on the feasibility study.

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