ROOPPUR: When Artem Matyukhin left his home city near the Ural Mountains for a job in riverine Bangladesh three years ago, even those closest to him struggled to understand the decision. But he has never regretted it, and will soon see the fruits of his work: a 2.4-gigawatt nuclear power plant.
“When I got the job in Rooppur, all my friends and relatives were asking: why are you going there?” Matyukhin, a 34-year-old civil engineer from Chelyabinsk, told Arab News.
“But when I arrived, I kind of got hooked. I absolutely don’t regret coming here. I made new friends, Russians and Bengalis, and I just like it here ... The nature here is incredibly beautiful.”
The facility in Rooppur, some 160 km from Dhaka, is developed by the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which started the construction of its two reactors in 2017.
Since then, Russian professionals like Matyukhin have been settling in the surrounding area, which gradually came to be known as the “Russian enclave” or “Little Russia.”
Most of the signboards in the locality, as well as shop, hotel, and restaurant names, are written in Cyrillic, while many local vendors have already picked up some Russian.
“Bangladeshis are very welcoming toward us — they always smile and communicate with us well,” said Elena Toshchakova, a schoolteacher from Voronezh.
“They learn our language, and that’s very nice.”
She has been working with the children of Russians employed at Rooppur for the past 18 months — an experience she enjoys, although sometimes she misses home. When that happens, she would cook the dishes like borsch or pelemeni, which she usually eats in Russia.
“And sometimes I go to restaurants that also serve our Russian cuisine,” she said.
“I also miss winter ... But I’m not sad, for I’ve also met new friends here, new acquaintances. I’m glad for that.”
Currently, more than 5,000 Russian engineers, nuclear specialists, technicians and their family members live and work in Rooppur, where Bangladesh is going to open its first nuclear facility this year.
They now constitute some 20 percent of the municipality’s population and have been welcomed by the local community — also since the power plant project has generated about 30,000 jobs, according to data from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, which oversees the facility.
“The project has brought significant socio-economic benefits to the region. These include job creation, infrastructure development, increased business activity, and improvements in healthcare and transportation,” Saikat Ahmed, the commission’s spokesperson, told Arab News.
“The project has attracted several thousand Russian scientists, engineers, and technical experts, making it one of the largest concentrations of foreign nuclear professionals in Bangladesh’s history.”
They will stay in Rooppur for at least another few years to train Bangladeshi staff in operating the plant and for technical support.
“The plant is expected to be progressively operated by Bangladeshi personnel, with Russian experts remaining in advisory and support roles,” Ahmed said.
“From the outset, strong emphasis has been placed on capacity building of Bangladeshi professionals. Thousands of engineers, scientists, and technicians have already been trained.”
Those sharing their knowledge believe more such collaborations are yet to come.
“With work, I started to have many Bengali friends ... And I’m so grateful for this companionship,” said Denis Shitikov, a civil engineer who arrived in Rooppur from Tiksi in Yatutia.
“There’s a long history of cooperation between our nations, and the future looks good.”
Natalia Pluzhnaya, a teacher from Krasnodar, was also sure of that: “I think that relations between Russia and Bangladesh are quite trusting. They are friendly towards each other, open to cooperation, and the future looks promising.”
Russia was one of the first countries to recognize Bangladesh’s independence. Those working at Rooppur are well aware of that.
“Since the independence of Bangladesh, our countries have been in a very friendly relation,” said Olesya Moskvina, who arrived to work at the site from Yekaterinburg and heads its translation department. “It hasn’t changed.”
She has been part of the Rooppur development since 2019, observing how the construction progressed and is now waiting for the moment when a reactor is started for the first time.
“This is the best work I’ve had in my life ... The goal is big. It is a huge project and you could feel the energy from the very beginning,” she said.
“We hope that the future will be the same and even better.”
