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IAEA chief to focus on ZNPP ownership transfer to Russia during visits to Kiev, Moscow

Additionally, Grossi intends to touch on a safety and security protection zone around the Zaporozhye NPP in talks with the Russian authorities

VIENNA, October 5. /TASS/. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi will hold talks with "the relevant authorities" during his upcoming visits to Kiev and Moscow, concerning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree on the transfer of ownership of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant to Russia, the IAEA said in a statement published on its website on Wednesday.

"The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, said he will engage in consultations with the relevant authorities following reports today that Russia plans to supervise operations of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya (Zaporozhye - TASS) Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP)," the statement says.

Additionally, Grossi intends to touch on a safety and security protection zone around the Zaporozhye NPP in talks with the Russian authorities.

"Director General Grossi will be in Kiev this week, and later in the Russian Federation, where he will also continue talks aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible," the IAEA said in the statement.

The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, located in the city of Energodar, is controlled by Russian troops. The IAEA’s fact-finding mission led by Grossi travelled to the plant in early September. After its departure, the agency’s two staff members stayed at the facility as observers. Then the IAEA published a report calling for a safety zone to be established around the plant in order to prevent the incidents that could be caused by hostilities.

On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on accepting the nuclear power facilities at the Zaporozhye NPP into federal ownership. He also commissioned to establish a federal state unitary enterprise, Zaporozhye NPP, which will be in charge of the plant’s property.