VIENNA, September 16. /TASS/. Western countries downplay the threats to nuclear facilities posed by Ukraine, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said on the sidelines of the IAEA General Conference.
"Unfortunately, the collective West downplays these threats and neglects the principles of nuclear safety in favor of short-term political interests," he said.
He called this situation unacceptable, saying the safety of nuclear facilities is a priority for Russia.
"In this, we and the secretariat and the IAEA leadership share our assessments. Yes, not all the words that we would like to hear are heard today from the IAEA leadership under pressure from the West. Sometimes under the direct threats of Western leaders, the real authors of these threats are not named," he said.
Likhachev said Russia would defend its point of view and communicate to the world community "the authors of the real threats to the nuclear power industry."
According to him, reckless actions of the Ukrainian authorities have become the main threat to the safety of the Zaporozhye and Kursk nuclear power plants.
"These are, unfortunately, already realized threats. There are already facts of damage to the infrastructure of the plants, and social facilities in the places of residence of their workers," he added.