IAEA head says dialog with Russia on Kursk and Zaporizhzhya NPPs will be maintained
Russia maintains a permanent dialog with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the situation at the Zaporizhzhya and Kursk nuclear power plants. This was announced by the agency's Director General Rafael Grossi on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24.
"Of course, in terms of the conflict there we have a very, I would say, important process of constant dialog, exchange of information on the situation at the Zaporizhzhya NPP of course, and in Kursk recently," he said.
Grossi noted that the dialog with the Russian Federation "is necessary and will continue." He also said that he does not rule out a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as he is "in constant contact with the Russian authorities". However, such an event is not planned in the near future.
The IAEA Director General also stated that he has no plans to organize a permanent presence of the mission at the Kursk NPP. He expressed hope that nothing would happen there that would require the participation of IAEA specialists. Grossi cited the attack on the Kursk region by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) as one of the factors aggravating the situation.
"[The situation] is serious in the sense that there was and still is a military invasion, and this military invasion has reached a point that is not so far from the nuclear power plant," he said.
Earlier, on September 20, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, speaking at a session of the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that between six and 62 Ukrainian drones are recorded and destroyed in the area of the ZNPP on a daily basis.
On September 18, it was reported that Energodar was subjected to a repeated attack by the AFU, which damaged a transformer near the ZNPP. IAEA inspectors were familiarized with the consequences of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' (AFU) attack on the Zarya substation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
On September 16, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, reminded the IAEA conference that Kiev had resumed attacks on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and was carrying out provocations against the Kursk nuclear power plant. He called such reckless behavior a threat that requires an adequate response from international organizations.
ZNPP is located in Energodar and came under Russian control following a referendum on the reunification of the Zaporizhzhya region with the Russian Federation in September 2022. Since the beginning of the same month, the nuclear power plant has been under IAEA surveillance.
