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IAEA Board of Governors to discuss situation at Kursk, Zaporozhye NPPs on September 9

Russia also hopes that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi "will make the signal about the inadmissibility of attacks on nuclear facilities"
Kursk nuclear power plant Vladimir Gerdo/TASS
Kursk nuclear power plant
© Vladimir Gerdo/TASS

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will discuss the situation at the Kursk and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants at a regular meeting on September 9, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy to international organizations in Vienna, told Kommersant.

"It is too early to discuss the consequences for the Ukrainian side over these attacks. Western countries turn a blind eye to any Ukrainian attacks on nuclear facilities, and they try to avoid handling this issue," the Russian diplomat said. "Anyway, we will discuss the situation at the Kursk and Zaporozhye NPPs at the next meeting of the [IAEA] Board [of Governors] on September 9," he added.

While Russia is not planning to convene an extraordinary meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors to discuss the recent attacks targeting the Kursk NPP, Ulyanov said, "things may change depending on how the situation evolves."

Russia also hopes that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi "will make the signal about the inadmissibility of attacks on nuclear facilities clear to [Ukrainian] President [Vladimir] Zelensky," Ulyanov concluded.

On August 27, the IAEA chief arrived in Kurchatov to visit the Kursk NPP. During his visit of the plant, Grossi saw evidence of drone strikes and drone fragments. Later, he described the situation as serious as he called for preventing a nuclear disaster. According to Grossi, attacks against any nuclear power plants are unacceptable.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Kiev’s attempt to attack the Kursk NPP using a kamikaze drone an act of nuclear terrorism, which she said required immediate reaction from the IAEA.