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Zaporozhye region authorities cautiously optimistic about IAEA mission’s visit

Vladimir Rogov pointed out that some of the OSCE's employees were real spies, who were working for Western special services

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. The Zaporozhye region’s authorities are expecting the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) mission with cautious optimism and hope it will be committed to its mandate, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Zaporozhye region military-civilian administration’s council, told TASS on Monday.

"As for the expectations from the visit. Naturally, we have very cautious optimism. I hope very much that the IAEA has not yet turned into the OSCE. Let me remind that the OSCE did nothing in Donbass. Moreover, it has turned out that some of the mission’s employees were real spies, who were working for Ukrainian and Western special services," he said.

He said that the regional authorities hope that the mission’s members will perform their duties "at a due level." "The more so as you don’t have to be a big specialist to see who is shelling the nuclear plant, who is posing a threat to it and what it may lead to," Rogov said.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said earlier that the agency’s mission had been formed and would reach the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant this week. The IAEA inspectors will assess physical damage to the nuclear plant and check its security and safety systems. The Grossi-led mission will also inspect working conditions at the nuclear plant and will yake urgent measures to ensure the plant’s security guarantees.

Located in the city of Energodar, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is controlled by Russian troops. In recent days, Ukrainian forces delivered several strikes at its territory using unmanned aerial vehicles, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launch systems. It most cases, such attacks are repelled by air defense systems but several shells hit infrastructure facilities and the vicinity of the nuclear waste storage.