The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerned about a nuclear accident. In a report, she demands that all military technology be removed from the site of the nuclear power plant that was fired upon. But the Kremlin chief sees no need for action. Rather, the IAEA must clarify “question marks”.
At the economic forum in the eastern port city of Vladivostok, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin rejected the accusation that Russia had stationed weapons at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. “The report (of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA) speaks of the need to remove military equipment from the territory of the plant. However, there is no military equipment on the site of the power plant.” He invites Western journalists to get a personal impression of the situation on the ground. Actually, reporters from the West should accompany the mission of the IAEA. However, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian occupying forces did not allow them into the Moscow-controlled area around the nuclear power plant site.
Meanwhile, the state operator of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has called for UN peacekeepers to be sent to the Russian-occupied indictment. This could be a way to create a security zone at the nuclear power plant and withdraw Russian troops, Energoatom chief Petro Kotyn said in a statement broadcast by Ukrainian television.
In a report presented on Tuesday, the IAEA called for rapid action to be taken against the “unsustainable” situation surrounding Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Among other things, she demanded the establishment of a “safety zone” around the nuclear power plant in order to prevent a nuclear accident. Moscow, in turn, wants “clarifications” from the IAEA on its Zaporizhia report. “There is a need for additional clarifications as the report contains a number of question marks,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Interfax news agency. Lavrov did not explain which specific points Russia has questions about.
According to him, Moscow asked IAEA boss Rafael Grossi for clarification. After the report was published, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensya, expressed his regret at a UN Security Council meeting in New York that the report did not blame Ukraine for the attacks on the nuclear power plant. The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, also criticized that the West had put “pressure” on the IAEA. “It is obvious that the West has always been putting pressure (on the IAEA) and is not stopping,” she said, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti. The head of the Russian Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom, Alexey Likatchev, said Moscow would “do its best in exclusive contact with the IAEA to ensure the safe operation of the plant”.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian troops since March. The power plant site had been repeatedly shot at in the past few weeks. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for these attacks. Last week, a team of experts from the IAEA, led by Grossi, traveled to the nuclear power plant and carried out investigations there. Two IAEA experts are now to remain permanently on the power plant site.
