China has repaid the Russian loan for construction of the Tianwan NPP (units 1 and 2) ahead of time. On the 29 June Russia's Ministry of Finance announced the receipt of the payment of $624.3m from China. This fulfilled China's obligations under the addendum to the 1992 loan agreement signed in Beijing on 25 June. The original agreement had provided for the payment of the last instalment in June 2022. "Of the total amount of the $2.5bn loan, $1.3bn was used, and the borrower funded a substantial part of expenses of the project," the ministerial statement says. Units 1 and 2 of Tianwan NPP were released to the customer in 2007 and their two-year warranty operation ended in 2009. The repayment of the accumulated debt started in 2010 and initially involved supplies of Chinese consumer goods. "Given the fact that this mechanism did not meet the financial interests of Russia, however, and given the increased financial capabilities of China, in 2010 the parties agreed to shift to repaying the debt in cash," the ministry explained.
