Kiev accuses Russia of rigging IAEA visit to Zaporijia nuclear power plant

For Kiev, the specialists of the IAEA, the body integrating the UN system, will have a lot of difficulties in preparing an impartial report on the situation in the factory that is “under constant” attacks.

“The Russian military lies, manipulates and changes the reality at the nuclear power plant by – only – spreading information to the IAEA that benefits it,” the Ukrainian state nuclear power company (Energoatom) denounced via a message on the social network Telegram.

According to Energoatom, the presence of Russian military vehicles in the turbine room (where the reactors are located) “was explained to IAEA experts as equipment for the ‘chemical defense forces'”

“The Russians did not allow the mission to enter the crisis center of the factory, where Russian military personnel are present and the IAEA is not allowed to see (…) hide the presence of armed Russian invaders,” the same text added.

The Ukrainian state entity claimed that a few days after the start of the military offensive against Ukraine (on February 24), the Russians who had occupied the nuclear power plant since March 4, “blocked mobile phones and internet communications” at Energodar, the location where the infrastructure is located. to avoid sending “photos and videos” of the amenities and the “sleeping city”.

The Ukrainian company also said the Russian military limited the presence of “factory operational personnel” during the visit of IAEA experts.

The organization also said that “most of the journalists” who were present at the entrance to the nuclear power plant were “Russian propagandists” and that the military prevented entry of Ukrainian and foreign reporters who were not allowed to pass the checkpoints.

Energoatom believes the mission turned out to be a “planned spectacle” as residents of Energodar, a Russian-occupied village, attended and “complained about bombing by Ukraine’s armed forces”.

“The occupiers are lying, changing the facts and evidence about the bombing of the factory, as well as the consequences and damage to the infrastructure of the facilities. As expected, they blame the armed forces of Ukraine,” Energoatom accused.

“Under these circumstances, it is clear that it will be difficult for the IAEA to make an unbiased assessment of the situation at the Zaporijia nuclear power plant,” he said.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Thursday after visiting the site that “it is clear that the central and physical integrity of the facilities have been violated several times, either casually or intentionally”.

“We do not have the elements to make this assessment, but it is a reality that we must recognize. It is something that cannot continue to happen,” said the IAEA representative “trying to activate certain mechanisms and establish a permanent presence” of some experts from the United Nations agency in the center.

The mission chief, who visited “three or four key areas he wanted to personally inspect” — such as nuclear power plants, diesel generators and control rooms — and who said he had spoken with workers and residents of Energodar, reiterated that the “IAEA is at the center and exiting not the place”.

The IAEA experts will “stay (on site) until Sunday or Monday” to deepen the inspection and prepare a report, Grossi said, who will later present the document to the management of the UN agency in Vienna.

Without naming an exact number, the IAEA director general indicated that a group of experts will remain central.

“Hopefully they can give me and everyone an unbiased, neutral and technically sound assessment of what might happen,” he said.

Energoatom, for its part, said on Thursday that five IAEA technicians are currently staying at the plant.

The head of Energodar’s pro-Russian interim government, Alexandr Volga, told Russian state television Rossia-24 today that “eight people from the IAEA remain in the factory” plus “four more accompanying them”.