(MENAFN- AFP) Russia's moves in Ukraine on Monday sparked splits among Czech officials on Moscow's bid for a multi-billion-dollar contract to expand a Czech nuclear plant.Speaking after Russian troops poured into Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in violation of international accords, the Czech ministers for defence and human rights said they were against the Russian bid. But the Czech prime minister and national power giant CEZ insisted politics would play no role in the tender to build two new units at the southern Temelin nuclear plant, a contract worth an estimated 8 to 12 billion euros ($10 to $15 billion).The MIR-1200 consortium, made up of Russia's Atomstroyexport and Gidropress and the Czech Skoda JS, is up against US industrial giant Westinghouse for the contract from CEZ."What (Russia) is doing is unacceptable," said Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky, adding that "Russia is no longer a democratic and predictable state."Stropnicky -- who is a member of the populist ANO movement in the three-party government coalition -- said it was difficult to imagine Russia taking part in the Temelin expansion.
For his part, Human Rights Minister Jiri Dienstbier told the website www.aktualne.cz that: "A country that resorts to military aggression for its foreign policy also represents a security risk for the Czech Republic." But CEZ spokesman Ladislav Kriz said only economic and technological factors would count in the decision process."The current situation in Ukraine has no bearing on the course" of the tender, he said.Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, a Social Democrat like Dienstbier, told reporters that "there are no political criteria" in the tender."It is impossible to imagine that we will burn all bridges by rupturing all commercial ties with Russia because of this crisis. That would be very unwise," he said.Planned in the communist era and launched in 2000, the plant currently has two Russian-type VVER pressurised-water reactors, each with an output of 1,050 megawatts. The winner of the contract was originally due to be announced last year, but CEZ pushed back the date by "at least a year" in July 2013 due to questions over profitability amid uncertainty in Europe's energy sector.
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