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Russia wants to prevent IAEA from being used for political gambling

Speaking at the UN earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of violating a number of agreements aimed at maintaining non-proliferation

MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. Russia’s purpose is not to weaken the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but to protect it from external influences and from attempts at using it for political gambling, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the media on Monday.

"It is very strange to hear we are ostensibly trying weaken the IAEA. Our real purpose is to make the agency stronger. We are against arbitrariness in its activity," Ryabkov said. "We do not wish the reform of the IAEA’s key activity, in other words, the safeguard system, to bring about a situation where the secretariat would have a free hand to decide where to conduct checks and how deep the inquiries should be, in other words to enforce the guarantees in question."

Ryabkov said Russia was certain the countries making decisions in the board of governors should retain the key role in the IAEA.

"We are for preventing any arbitrariness and political machinations, something our US counterparts are in the habit of resorting to in different fields," he added.

"Any intentions of weakening the IAEA are out of the question. We are for a situation where the IAEA will go ahead with its activity in strict compliance with the existing rules and remain immune to attempts at outside influence by those who see the agency as a tool of political gambling," he said.

Speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council on WMD non-proliferation on September 21 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of violations of a number of agreements aimed at maintaining non-proliferation and also those within the IAEA framework.