Russia’s ambassador to Ankara, Sergey Vershinin, has identified the launch of the first reactor at Türkiye’s Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant as the country’s main energy priority for the year.

“Our main task today is to ensure the launch of the first power unit by the end of this year,” Vershinin said, according to RT.

The ambassador highlighted the role of Russia and Rosatom in bringing the project to completion and said Türkiye plans to build two additional nuclear power plants in the future - in Sinop and Thrace.

The Akkuyu project, Türkiye’s first nuclear power plant, is being built by Rosatom under a build-own-operate model. Once fully operational, the four-reactor facility is expected to significantly expand Türkiye’s nuclear generation capacity.

The project has also taken on a political dimension. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan previously proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the two leaders jointly attend the launch of the Akkuyu plant.