Russia says UN hinders arrival of new IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhia power plant

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that if the UN Department of Safety and Security (UN DSS) will postpone the rotation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring mission at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP), Moscow will consider its actions as "deliberate obstruction of the work of the mission."

In a statement on its website, the ministry praised the mission as "a significant factor" in stabilizing the situation around the plant and "an important source of independent information" about what is happening at the largest nuclear facility in Europe.

It added that the planned rotation had to take place on Feb. 7, and the Russian Defense Ministry provided security guarantees for the transportation of the IAEA experts and their accompanying persons from the staff of the UN Secretariat, but the UN department rescheduled it for Feb. 10.

On the eve of Feb. 10, the UN DSS once again informed the Russian side that the dates were changed again, it also put forward additional demands on the need to clear the territories in the area of the contact line of mines and change the route, the diplomatic service added.

The ministry explained that it cannot guarantee the security of the UN and IAEA employees on the suggested route and invited to come through the repeatedly used route, however, on Feb. 18, the rotation did not take place again and was put off for an uncertain time, the ministry noted.

"Thus, in the period from Feb. 7 to Feb. 18 this year, the UN Department of Safety and Security three times, without any clear explanations, disrupted the rotation of IAEA specialists at the NPP.

"New dates were set two or three days in advance, although ensuring the guaranteed safe arrival of international experts required considerable time for comprehensive preparation on our part. No clarifying information was provided on the reasons for the change in the route of the mission," the ministry noted.

The Russian side stressed that the UN Department of Safety and Security does not have reliable information about the situation on the contact line and along the way of convoy's movement, and expressed readiness to provide all possible guarantees, including additional measures of medical support, for the mission's passage within two to three days after Feb. 25 this year through the checkpoint "Vasilevka", "which is the safest route and continues to operate normally."

"If the replacement of the IAEA specialists is not carried out this time, then we will consider the actions of the UN Department of Safety and Security a deliberate obstruction of the work of the Agency's mission at the NPP," the ministry said.

It urged the UN Department of Safety and Security to stop blocking and start helping in carrying out rotation of the IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

"There were no obstacles to this from the Russian side and there cannot be. The continuation of the IAEA monitoring mission fully meets the interests of Russia, the Agency and the entire international community," the ministry stressed.

Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest and one of the world’s 10 biggest nuclear power plants, has been under Russian control since March last year, soon after the start of the Ukraine war.

Fears of a nuclear catastrophe persist amid reports of shelling around the area.