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Kiev may use IAEA personnel as shield to cover energy facilities — Russian envoy

Mikhail Ulyanov emphasized that "this issue should be approached very carefully and that substations located far from nuclear facilities have nothing to do with the IAEA's mandate and that its staff could end up as human shields covering the Ukrainian energy infrastructure at the cost of their own health and lives"

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Russia has warned the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Ukraine may use the agency's staff as a human shield to cover Ukrainian energy facilities, the country’s permanent envoy to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said.

"We are talking about the fact that at Kiev's request, [IAEA Director General Rafael] Grossi decided to send his staff to visit the power substations that have suffered as a result of the alleged Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. That's what this is all about," Ulyanov said during a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast. "At the meeting of the [IAEA] Board of Governors, which ended today, we warned the IAEA Secretariat that this issue should be approached very carefully and that substations located far from nuclear facilities have nothing to do with the IAEA's mandate and that its staff could end up as human shields covering the Ukrainian energy infrastructure at the cost of their own health and lives," he emphasized.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said that the Russian military hit only those Ukrainian infrastructure facilities "that are directly related to the organization of combat operations, only those facilities on which the actions of Ukrainian troops on the line of engagement depend, and especially those to be used to attack Russian territory."

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Foreign policy IAEA

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