VIENNA, March 11. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) anti-Russian resolution runs counter to its mandate, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS.

"Twenty members of the IAEA Board of Governors, who voted for the anti-Russian resolution on the ZNPP (Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant - TASS) on March 8, obviously went beyond the mandate of the board and the entire agency. Our opponents don’t hesitate to violate the rules being driven by an annoying eagerness to politicize the discussion," he said, adding that 14 board members did not support his resolution as thy don’t share such a position.

"There were twice as many of them compared to the first such resolution that was passed in March 2022. Violating the IAEA mandate’s limits was cited as a key reason for such vote by those who did not support the resolution or abstained," Ulyanov explained.

On March 8, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a Kiev-initiated resolution calling for withdrawing Russian personnel from the ZNPP. Russia and China voted against the resolution, while twelve out of the 35 board members abstained.