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Russia in talks with IAEA to prevent Zaporozhye plant from posing any threat — envoy

On December 2, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said, addressing the Mediterranean Dialogues international conference in Rome, that an agreement on establishing a security zone at the Zaporozhye nuclear facility could be reached soon

ISTANBUL, December 12. /TASS/. Russia is holding substantive discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant so that the facility won’t pose any threat due to the reckless steps by Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat told reporters on Monday.

Commenting on the latest round of political consultations between Russia and Turkey that recently concluded in Istanbul, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said, "As for the Zaporozhye NPP, which is located on Russian soil and is under Russia’s control, we have been in very close contact with the IAEA. Substantive discussions are underway so that this peaceful nuclear facility won’t pose any threat to civilians both in the region and elsewhere due to Ukraine’s reckless actions. Everybody realizes how dangerous the recent reckless steps by Ukraine have been."

On December 2, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said, addressing the Mediterranean Dialogues international conference in Rome, that an agreement on establishing a security zone at the Zaporozhye nuclear facility could be reached soon. Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said earlier that the safety model being discussed with Grossi required a stop to any shelling of the power plant.

On November 17, the IAEA adopted the latest resolution calling on Russia to immediately abandon what it said were "baseless" claims of Moscow’s ownership of the power plant.

Russia and China voted against the resolution, while India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, South Africa, Kenya and Namibia abstained. The Russian mission to Vienna chided the IAEA’s resolution as going beyond the UN nuclear watchdog’s mandate.

The Zaporozhye nuclear plant located in the town of Energodar is the largest in Europe and has a capacity of about 6,000 MW. In late February, the Zaporozhye facility was placed under the Russian army’s control. Since then, the Ukrainian military has been periodically bombarding both Energodar’s residential zone and the premises of the Zaporozhye nuke plant, employing drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.