The Long Arm of the Kremlin and the Politics of Uranium
A potential loss for Europe after the coup in Niger is a win for Putin.
A man holds a placard in a demonstration against French military presence in Niger in 2022 in Niamey.
Photographer: BOUREIMA HAMA/AFPThe town of Arlit, a desolate settlement on the southern fringes of the Sahara, is the improbable ground zero of a new geopolitical tussle: the fight for the control of uranium, the fuel that powers the nuclear industry.
It was there, in the arid ranges of northern Niger, where French geologists found the radioactive mineral in the 1950s. Since then, French state-owned companies have dug it out from their former colony, transforming Niger into the world’s seventh-largest producer. In 2022, the mines surrounding Arlit accounted for 25% of all European Union uranium imports.
Now, a coup d’Etat in the impoverished west African nation has put that flow in jeopardy.
The commodity may not attract the headlines of oil, gas or even coal, but it's crucial for a world desperately in need of carbon-free energy.