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IAEA chief says he discussed security zone around Zaporozhye NPP at UN General Assembly

At the moment, Rafael Grossi said, the sides are working on concrete proposals for the security zone

UNITED NATIONS, September 22. /TASS/. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi held a number of meetings on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, including with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba and French President Emmanuel Macron, where he discussed the creation of a safety zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.·

"I am here working on the establishment of the safety protection zone. <…>. I had a meeting with two foreign ministers, [Russian] Foreign Minister Lavrov, [Ukrainian] Foreign Minister Kuleba, and then [there was] the meeting organized and presided by President Macron <…> [as well as a meeting with] the Ukrainian Prime Minister and the foreign ministers of the G7 countries of the EU," he said on Wednesday at a briefing for reporters.

At the moment, Grossi said, the sides are working on concrete proposals for the security zone.

"We are already working on the very concrete aspects that will be required to have the [security] zone <…> established," Grossi said.

Overall, as the IAEA Director General noted, the dialogue between the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine and the IAEA shows that there is a strong basis for reaching agreements on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

"The mere fact that the two foreign ministers (Russia and Ukraine - TASS) are sitting down with me and listening to our ideas, I think it's a good indicator that there is a very strong solid base for this thing (the creation of the safety zone - TASS) to happen," he said, commenting on the prospects of reaching an agreement.·The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is located in Energodar, is under Russian troops’ control. An IAEA mission led by Grossi visited the plant in early September. After the mission left the plant, two of its employees remained at the site as observers. Later, the IAEA published a report calling for the creation of a safety zone around the plant to prevent accidents caused by military operations.