Russian sources have circulated claims that the United States allegedly imposed sanctions on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). According to propagandists, this supposedly means that the U.S. has ‘officially recognized the plant as Russian’ and even ‘acknowledged that Zaporizhzhia is Russian’.  

In reality, this is a manipulation of information, as reported by the StopFake project.  

On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a new package of sanctions against Russia. The department’s website states that the sanctions target over 150 legal entities and individuals, including a wide range of Russian defense industry companies and entities supporting Russia's military-industrial base. Additionally, the sanctions apply to dozens of companies in other countries that helped Russia evade previous U.S. sanctions.  

As for the alleged sanctions ‘against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’, the ZNPP is mentioned twice in the list of sanctioned entities. The first reference concerns sanctions against Vladislav Isayev, the Russian general director of the plant. The second reference relates to sanctions against the Russian legal entity created to manage the ZNPP under Russian military occupation - Federal State Unitary Enterprise Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.  

Thus, the document does not recognize the ZNPP as Russian, nor does it recognize the city of Zaporizhzhia as part of Russia.  

By spreading such disinformation, Russian propagandists aim to assert that the U.S. has allegedly acknowledged the ‘real state of affairs’ in the Russia-Ukraine war and is beginning to accept Ukraine’s territorial losses. Previously, we debunked claims that Ukraine was allegedly provoking nuclear escalation at the ZNPP.