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Agreement on security zone around ZNPP was near, but Kiev blocked it — Lavrov

On March 8, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Antonio Guterres said that the protection of the Zaporozhye NPP and security around the facility were "vital"

MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. An agreement on establishing a security zone at the Zaporozhye NPP (ZNPP) was near, but the Ukrainian side blocked it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference on Thursday.

"The director-general of this agency (IAEA, Rafael Grossi - TASS) has been promoting an agreement on declaring the ZNPP a nuclear security zone for several months. We actively cooperated with the director general, an agreement was near. We were ready to support it. It was blocked by Kiev, which is putting forward preconditions regarding prisoners of war and so-called ‘demilitarization’," Lavrov said.

He also pointed out that during his latest visit to Kiev, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres linked grain and fertilizer exports with agreements on prisoners of war and "the need, as he put it, to 'demilitarize' the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant."

"No one except for Ukraine itself has ever talked about any demilitarization. I am very sorry that the UN Secretary General, while in Kiev, in fact unambiguously subscribed to unilateral Ukrainian demands, although, according to the UN Charter, as the chief administrative person, he is obliged to observe neutrality. He failed to do this once again," Lavrov stressed.

On March 8, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Guterres said that the protection of the Zaporozhye NPP and security around the facility were "vital" and offered UN mediation to achieve "the full demilitarization of the area, while ensuring that the plant can return to normal operations.".

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