Deputies demanded that Western countries stop supplying weapons to Ukraine

The State Duma Council called on the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as national parliaments and inter-parliamentary organizations to evaluate the “criminal actions of Kyiv” and “demand the Ukrainian authorities to immediately stop shelling the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant” (ZNPP) and other facilities, the destruction of which carries the risk of a man-made disaster. In addition, the deputies demand to stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine. This is stated in the statement, which was adopted on August 25 at a meeting of the Council of the Duma.

Major accidents at nuclear power plants (apparently referring to the Chernobyl disaster that occurred on the territory of Ukraine) “taught Kyiv and its NATO patrons nothing,” the statement said. Attacks on the ZNPP are called “terrorist” in the statement, and the deputies consider this a “violation of international humanitarian law.” The Russian side is ready to do everything necessary to organize an IAEA mission to the station, the deputies note.

The statement was adopted unanimously by the council, said Vyacheslav Makarov, first deputy head of the United Russia faction. On August 18, the leader of the Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov proposed to convene the leadership of the State Duma for the sake of such a political appeal on August 18, and the speaker of the chamber, Vyacheslav Volodin, promptly responded to such a proposal.

The leader of the New People, Aleksey Nechaev, believes that the shelling of the ZNPP is “a sign of desperation and impotence.” “They don’t behave like that when they plan to win. This is what they do when they realize that defeat is inevitable. It’s impossible to recapture the nuclear power plant and the region, so let everything be destroyed,” the deputy said after the council. According to Nechaev, the ZNPP is a “powerful and reliable” structure that cannot be destroyed by the weapons that Ukraine has,” but it is possible to destroy nuclear waste storage facilities and “contaminate the air, soil and rivers with radiation for tens or hundreds of kilometers.” Nechaev believes that Ukraine wants to either keep the ZNPP as part of the Ukrainian energy system in order to sell electricity abroad and use the money to buy weapons, or achieve its conservation and create a shortage of electricity in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

The leader of A Just Russia, Sergei Mironov, reported that on July 26, their faction sent a bill to the government “on recognizing Ukraine as a terrorist state” (the initiative was not submitted to the State Duma). He did not rule out that the SVO on the territory of the country could develop into a CTO. LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky called what was happening “a provocation of a nuclear catastrophe” and expressed confidence that the deputies’ statement would not remain unread by foreign colleagues.

Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source in diplomatic circles, reported on August 25 that the IAEA wants to send inspectors to the ZNPP by September 5. Also on that day, the Ukrainian company Energoatom announced that for the first time in the history of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, it was disconnected from the energy system of Ukraine.

According to Slutsky, as a member of the delegation at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, which will be held in September, he will explain Russia’s position to members of other delegations and UN representatives. Russia has already convened the UN Security Council on the situation at the ZNPP on August 11, and for the second time on August 23. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya at the last meeting showed photographs of the destruction at the station. Nebenzia said that statements about the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of the ZNPP are “irresponsible”, since this does not take into account the support of conditions for the safe operation of the plant.