House Republicans call on the Biden administration’s national safety officials to “utilize full application sanctions, export control, and diplomacy” in order to stop a Russian state-owned oil company from helping China expand its nuclear weapons program. They also warn that this relationship is a direct threat to U.S. security.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (Republican from Alabama), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (Republican), and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (Republican) are demanding that the Biden administration admit that Russia and China “work in tandem against America.”
“Russia’s state-owned nuclear power corporation Rosatom is helping the People’s Republic of China (PRC), acquire enough weapons-grade plutonium for its strategic nuclear breakout,” they wrote to Jake Sullivan, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of States Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a Friday letter to Jake Sullivan.
The chairmen stated that Russia’s Rosatom “helps to fuel” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war efforts against Ukraine.
They wrote that they urged the administration to see this cooperation as a direct threat to U.S. Security and more evidence that Russia is working with China against the United States. “The administration must use every tool at its disposal to end Rosatom’s and the PRC’s dangerous cooperation.”
Rogers, Turner, and McCaul warned that Rosatom’s position on the global market “only gets stronger.”
They wrote that the longer we wait to act, it will be more difficult to address Rosatom’s nefarious or malign dealings. “Putin uses the funds to finance his war machine, and keep his favorite weapons programs on time.”
They added that Rosatom “indirectly finances the death and destruction seen in Ukraine and China’s nuclear weapon proliferation and is a direct threat to the American way of living.”
Rogers, Turner, and McCaul demanded stronger action and a whole-of-government approach.
They asked that they use all tools available to stop Putin from using Rosatom to undermine U.S. interests around the world.
The chairmen asked for a briefing about the Rosatom strategy of the Biden administration “no later that April 17, 2023.”
This warning comes after the intelligence community had warned that China was “reorienting” its nuclear position in its annual threat assessment. Admiral Charles Richard, U.S. Strategic Command, has called China’s nuclear weapons proliferation a “strategic breakthrough.”
Officials from the Intelligence Community also stated that Russia has “the largest and most powerful nuclear weapons stockpile” and is continuing to upgrade and modernize its nuclear weapons capabilities.
The intelligence community believes that China and Russia will maintain their strategic ties based on their shared threat perceptions toward the United States.
Officials warn that the relationship between China, and Russia poses “potential threats” in areas like security cooperation, particularly arms sales and joint exercises. Diplomacy is also at risk because each country has used its veto power to block the United States from the UN Security Council interests.
