রূপপুরে ৫ বিলিয়ন ডলার ঘুষ: রাশিয়া জানতে চাইল তদন্ত কতদূর। আটকে গেল BRICS-এর দরজা!

1. Allegations of embezzlement of $5 billion in Rooppur A serious allegation was made against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and niece Tulip Siddique of embezzling $5 billion from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project and laundering it to various banks in Malaysia. Based on this allegation, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Bangladesh formally launched an investigation in late 2024, which is currently ongoing. 2. Russia's position and investigation context Russia or the main contractor of the Rooppur project, the Russian state-owned company 'Rosatom', has rejected these corruption allegations from the beginning as 'an attempt to tarnish the reputation of the project'. Recently (June 2026), the current Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Dr. Khalilur Rahman, visited Moscow and held meetings with top officials including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. There, a commitment was made to further expand and strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. Russia has blocked relations by pressuring them due to the $5 billion investigation—no reliable international or domestic mainstream media outlet has found the truth of such a claim. 3. Is the door to BRICS blocked? "The door to BRICS is blocked"—this claim is not entirely correct. Rather, the current situation is exactly the opposite. In the recent foreign minister-level bilateral meeting held in Moscow, Russia gave positive assurances to Bangladesh about its inclusion in BRICS. Earlier, Bangladesh did not get membership in the BRICS expansion in 2023 or 2024, but that was due to the alliance's internal geopolitical and economic calculations. The investigation into the corruption in the Rooppur project has no direct connection with the blocking of BRICS membership. Summary: A legal investigation into the allegations of embezzlement in the Rooppur project is underway in Bangladesh. But the news that relations with Russia have soured due to this or that the process of joining BRICS has been 'blocked' is largely exaggerated. Diplomatic and commercial relations between the two countries are still progressing at a fairly normal pace.