БелАЭС. Фото: Reform.by
Specialists who previously worked at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, seized by Russian forces in 2022, are now employed at the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelAES). Some have already obtained Belarusian citizenship, while others are returning to Enerhodar as employees of Rosatom, RFE/RL reports.
According to the outlet, at the time of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, around 30 specialists with past links to the Zaporizhzhia plant were working at BelAES. Many had moved to Belarus after 2014 because they took part in the construction of the Astravets plant and did not accept Ukraine’s change of government.
A local newspaper, Astravetskaya Prauda, recently reported that on 30 October three new citizens took the oath of allegiance to Belarus — Iryna Hosteva, Andrei Palishchuk and Mikalai Chishchavoi. According to RFE/RL, Palishchuk and Chishchavoi were previously Ukrainian citizens and worked at the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Sources told the outlet that former employees of the Ukrainian plant began leaving Enerhodar in large numbers for jobs in Belarus as early as 2014, as many had earlier taken part in the construction of the Astravets facility.
“After the Maidan and the start of the war in 2014, quite a few of our specialists left for Belarus. These were people who could not accept the change of government,” a source told RFE/RL. In 2014, following the Revolution of Dignity, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia, and Petro Poroshenko became the new president after elections.
Another source said that the first to leave for BelAES was Viktor Turelskiy, head of Zaporizhzhia’s second reactor unit, followed by others.
“And it happened rather quickly and quietly, under the slogan ‘Suitcase, plant, BelAES’. It must be said that it happened without loud scandals and certainly without any obvious resentment toward Ukraine. And the plant’s management did not put any obstacles in their way,” the source noted.
Turelskiy worked at BelAES as deputy chief engineer for plant operations but died suddenly in April 2024. The plant’s management described him as “one of the key figures of BelAES” and his death as a major loss.
The Astravets district newspaper has repeatedly reported on Chishchavoi, who took part in the construction of BelAES. He moved to Belarus in 2014 after nearly 15 years at the Zaporizhzhia plant — from pump-station operator to senior engineer of a reactor unit. One of his brothers, Aliaksei Chishchavoi, was recently killed defending Ukraine. Another brother works in the nuclear energy sector in Ukraine.
Another new Belarusian citizen, Palishchuk, worked at the Zaporizhzhia plant, spent six years at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, and then underwent training and internships in Russia, including at the Novovoronezh plant, before arriving in Belarus in 2016.
He began working at the Zaporizhzhia plant in 2001. He started as a pump-unit operator at the coastal pumping station, later becoming a reactor-shop operator, senior operator, reactor-shop engineer and senior engineer for reactor-unit control. During training for his final position, he received an invitation to work at the Astravets plant.
“I have no regrets. I see that my children can have a completely different future than they would have had there. The advantages for me, professionally, are participation in a new next-generation project and the acquisition of significant experience,” Chishchou told local journalists. He also expressed gratitude to all his former colleagues at the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Sources told RFE/RL that some former Ukrainian nuclear specialists are now returning to the Zaporizhzhia plant as employees of Russia’s Rosatom. Ukraine’s Security Service has opened criminal cases against some of them for cooperating with occupation structures, and several have already been convicted.
In January 2023, Rosenergoatom representative Renat Karchaa stated that around 40 Zaporizhzhia plant employees had been working at BelAES under contracts signed before the full-scale invasion, and some intended to return to Enerhodar.