Russia on Thursday confirmed accusations that Ukraine is hiding weapons and ammunition it receives from Western allies in the country’s nuclear power plants and reported the matter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“This allows Kiev, under the cover of a nuclear power plant, to accumulate military assistance and not expose it to the danger of destruction,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with the official TASS agency, published on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Galuzin said that Moscow informed the international community and, in particular, the IAEA leadership, which asked the inspectors of the UN specialized agency to closely monitor “what is being done at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and near their perimeters.”
Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors at four power plants built when the country was part of the Soviet Union.
One of them, in Zaporozhye, with six reactors, is the largest in Europe and has been occupied by Russian troops since the first days of the invasion.
Kyiv authorities denied Moscow’s accusations of using nuclear power plants to store weapons supplied by its Western allies.
Galuzin told TASS that now the situation at the station facilities is controlled by representatives of the IAEA, who are there on a permanent basis on behalf of the Director General of the UN agency Rafael Grossi.
On Monday, Grossi said the planned rotation of three IAEA experts who have been present at the plant in Zaporozhye since early January has been delayed by more than two weeks, with a new team already in Ukraine.
“The situation with nuclear safety in Ukraine, especially at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, remains dangerous and unpredictable,” Grossi quoted a statement released by the IAEA.
Grossi was involved in talks in Kyiv and Moscow to create a buffer zone around the Zaporizhzhya power plant, arguing that the situation is unstable and unpredictable because it is an active war zone.
Mikhail Galuzin told TASS that Russia expects IAEA technical specialists to fulfill their mission “with all responsibility” and provide “an objective picture of what is happening.”
Gluzin, one of nine deputy ministers headed by Sergei Lavrov, confirmed that consultations were underway with the IAEA on establishing a security zone in Zaporozhye, but did not provide any information.
“While negotiations are underway, it would be premature to disclose in the public space information about the possible time for reaching an agreement and its parameters,” he justified.
He acknowledged that the dialogue on this issue “is not easy”, but said that the goal is defined.
From Moscow’s point of view, it is about “doing everything necessary to prevent Ukrainian attacks on the station and avoid an emergency, especially a man-made disaster with unforeseen consequences.”
The IAEA already has missions at all nuclear power plants in Ukraine, as well as Chernobyl (in the north), where the most serious nuclear accident occurred in 1986, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
Nuclear power plants produced more than half of the electricity consumed in Ukraine before the war.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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