MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. There were no combat operations along the route to the Zaporozhye nuclear power state (ZNPP) which IAEA experts had to travel, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, said on Monday commenting on allegations that a regular rotation of IAEA specialists at the ZNPP was prevented due to fierce fighting in the area.
"There has been no fierce fighting in this area in recent days. It is absolutely reliable information. That is why, the very hypothesis that fierce fighting was among the factors that caused the reluctance to follow this route is groundless," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
He stressed that the Russian side had guaranteed the security of the IAEA experts after the crossing of the contact line.
According to Karchaa, preparations for the rotation, which was scheduled for early February, had proceeded routinely since January. He said that three IAEA experts and four officials from the UN Department of Safety and Security were to arrive. However, in his words, the UN department concluded that it was impossible to ensure safe movement of the delegation amid the fierce fighting along the contact line fraught with threats from mines and unexploded shells.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said earlier that the situation around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was "volatile and unpredictable." He claimed that the planned rotation had been postponed due to active combat operations. He added that the postponement of the rotation "demonstrates all too clearly the need for urgent measures to protect the plant and the people working there."
An IAEA mission, led by its Director General Rafael Grossi, visited the Zaporozhye NPP in early September 2022. Several agency employees remained at the nuclear plant as observers after the mission departed. In its report issued after the visit, the IAEA called for the immediate establishment of a safety zone around the Zaporozhye plant to prevent a possible "nuclear incident" triggered by hostilities. The first rotation of IAEA experts took place in October 2022.