Bolivia’s commercial relationship with Russia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Given the escalation of the war in Ukraine, two parliamentarians opposed to the government announced that they would request a report on Bolivia‘s economic and contractual ties with Russia.

This announcement was made after the Russian state received harsh sanctions from the European Union and the United States for the current military operation.

Congressman Miguel Roca pointed out – according to a report by the Erbol network – that trade with Russia is almost nil; however, Bolivia has contracted the Russian company Rosatom for the Nuclear Technology Development Research Center (CIDTN) project in El Alto.

He assured that this contract is for US$351 million, for which a loan was negotiated with the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), which helps with part of the financing. The legislator said there is a lot of sensitivity regarding this issue because there is a confidentiality agreement between the state and the Russian state-owned company.

The legislator said that the agreement was quite advantageous for Russia in this context.

For his report request, the deputy anticipated that he would investigate the position of the Bolivian government, taking into account that Russia was excluded from the Swift financial exchange system as a consequence of the operation in Ukraine.

“We will investigate the relationship in depth,” emphasized Roca, who indicated that he would make the report request the following week.

Alberto Astorga, a Comunidad Ciudadana (CC) deputy, corroborated that there is secrecy on this issue and that he will seek the data through report requests.

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