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Regular contact with IAEA over ZNPP fruitless, leads nowhere — Rosenergoatom

Renat Karchaa believes that there have been no results, in particular, because the organization does not have any leverage to influence the situation, and also because IAEA inspectors are often biased and anti-Russian from the outset, while others are under considerable pressure

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Russia is staying committed to constructive cooperation with the IAEA, whose inspectors are visiting the Zaporozhye NPP, but without any tangible results this communication becomes meaningless, an adviser to the Rosenergoatom concern’s CEO, Renat Karchaa, said on Tuesday.

"Communication with them [IAEA experts] is regular, and there are no person-to-person tensions. Meetings with them are held twice a day. But without any results achieved, all this turns senseless. There is no result in sight. There are various kinds of imitations, there are press conferences and there are statements. There are good wishes. But where is the result? There is no result," he said on the Solovyov Live TV channel.

Karchaa believes that there have been no results, in particular, because the organization does not have any leverage to influence the situation, and also because IAEA inspectors are often biased and anti-Russian from the outset, while others are under considerable pressure. At the same time, he stressed that Russia was nonetheless committed to constructive cooperation.

As the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier, the Ukrainian military had resumed bombardments of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant after a two-month lull. On November 19-20 alone, Ukrainian forces fired at least 25 shells at the power plant. One hit the roof of special building No. 2, where nuclear fuel is stored.

On Monday, IAEA experts inspected the sites of the strikes. As Karchaa told TASS, they were provided with sufficient proof that the Ukrainian forces opened fire against the power plant from the city of Marganets, in the Dnepropetrovsk region. The IAEA’s press service said later that its Director-General Rafael Grossi ramped up discussions aimed at creating a security zone near the ZNPP.

The ZNPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russia took control of it on February 28, in the first days of the special military operation in Ukraine. In early September, the IAEA mission visited the facility. After its departure, some IAEA staffers remained there as observers. Later, the organization published a report calling for the creation of a safety zone around the ZNPP with the aim of preventing hostilities-related incidents.