Moscow wants 'clarifications' on UN report on ZNPP
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Russia blames the West for pressuring the IAEA into not blaming Ukraine.
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The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant
Russia demanded clarifications from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding its report on the Zaparozhye nuclear power plant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
The UN nuclear watchdog agency, in a report released Tuesday, called for a demilitarized zone to be established outside the plant that has been subjected to Ukrainian shelling over the past few weeks.
The ZNPP is Europe's largest nuclear power plant, and the attacks targeting it would have had catastrophic repercussions for not only Zaparozhye but a large part of the region where it is based.
"There is a need to get additional clarifications because the report contains a number of issues. I will not list them but we requested these clarifications from the IAEA Director General", Lavrov told Russian news agency Interfax.
Russia's Ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said Tuesday that Moscow "regrets" that the report did not hold Kiev accountable for the shelling of the ZNPP that has been under Moscow's control since March.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, on the other hand, blamed the West for pressuring the IAEA into not blaming Ukraine.
The IAEA report does not contain data on the source of the shelling of the ZNPP, though everything necessary to obtain information on the situation at the plant was done, Zakharova said.
"They [IAEA experts] are 100% sure that there will not be a single argument in favor of the fact that this [ZNPP shelling] was done by the Russians, so there is a story that there is no data about who could do it," the Spokesperson stressed.
The lack of data on the shelling of the ZNPP can only be if the IAEA mission does not want to see the source of the shelling, she added.
"It is obvious that the West was always putting pressure (on the IAEA) and that it hasn't stopped," she was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
A team of 14 people sent by the IAEA visited the region, with Director-General Rafael Grossi saying the site was damaged in the fighting.
Russian state energy agency Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev said Moscow would do its best "to ensure the safe operation of the plant exclusively in contact with the IAEA."
At least two members of the IAEA team were to remain there on a permanent basis to ensure the facility's safety.
Ukraine shelling poses threat to nuclear safety
The Ukrainian side poses a threat to nuclear security by shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - fragments of HIMARS missiles and other weapons are lying there, Putin said on Wednesday.
"There are also fragments of HIMARS and other weapons lying around. Does this create a threat or not? Of course, it does!" Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
Russia's Ministry of Defense confirmed that Ukraine made another attempt to take over the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Friday. The Ministry revealed some information about Ukraine's failed operation.
More than 40 motor boats, divided into two groups, carried over 150 Ukrainian special operations forces, in addition to foreign mercenaries.
According to the Ministry, the troops tried to land on the coast of the Kakhovka dam not far from Energodar where the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is located.
