MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. The situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is controlled jointly by Russian troops, Ukrainian specialists and the National Guard, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"Currently, control over the situation at the Chernobyl NPP is being exercised jointly by Russian servicemen, Ukrainian specialists, the plant’s civilian personnel, and that country’s National Guard," she said, adding that Ukraine’s allegations about 20-fold radiation increase at the Chernobyl plant are not true.

According to Zakharova, the Zaporozhye nuclear plant is also operating routinely and the situation in Energograd if calm. "The actions of the Russian military in this dangerous situation were motivated by the necessity to prevent a nuclear provocation from Ukrainian nationalists, who seem to have nothing to lose. As a matter of fact, they have ben trained to do it. That is why Russian troops are taking Ukraine’s nuclear facilities under control," she said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said earlier that Ukraine had notified it about its loss of control over the Chernobyl nuclear plant, which had been taken by Russian troops. Ukraine also informed that control over the territory around the Zaporozhye nuclear plant had also came over to Russian troops.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.