Armenia Cuts Ties With Russia In Peaceful Atom Field

• 10.02.2026, 9:47

Yerevan chose the United States.

The United States and Armenia yesterday, February 9, signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy. This will allow Yerevan to reduce its longstanding energy dependence on Russia, writes Bloomberg.

The agreement on cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear energy was signed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the Armenian side and Vice President J.D. Vance on the American side.

American firms can now legally participate in tenders to build a new nuclear power plant in Armenia to replace the Metsamor nuclear power plant, which was built during the Soviet era.

The Metsamor nuclear power plant is completely dependent on Russia. It is operated by the Russian state corporation Rosatom and runs on Russian nuclear fuel. This nuclear power plant provides 40% of Armenia's electricity needs. The new nuclear plant will allow Yerevan to no longer depend on Moscow for energy.

According to Vance, the total value of contracts between the United States and Armenia in the field of peaceful atom is estimated at $9 billion. Of that, $5 billion is initial exports from the United States. In the future, fuel and maintenance of small modular reactors on Armenian territory will cost about $4 billion more.

The signing of the U.S.-Armenia agreement on peaceful atom cooperation came days after Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev met in Moscow with Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan.

Likhachev tried to persuade the Armenian side to continue cooperation with Moscow in the field of nuclear technology by proposing various projects. In particular, Rosatom offered to build a new 1200 MW unit at the Armenian nuclear power plant. Yerevan was given a feasibility study for the construction of the new unit, but, as we can see, this project is unlikely to be realized.