Lavrov discussed with the French Foreign Minister the dispatch of the IAEA mission to the Zaporozhye NPP

Foreign Ministers of France and Russia Catherine Colonna and Sergey Lavrov discussed the dispatch of the IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhya NPP, during the conversation the Russian side agreed on the need to send it as soon as possible. This is stated in message French Foreign Office.

“The Minister stated that France supports the early deployment of the mission of IAEA experts … she took note of Russia’s agreement in principle on this issue, as well as the obligation of the latter to refrain from any action that could jeopardize the security of this mission,” the message says.

Earlier settlement of the situation around the Zaporozhye NPP discussed during a telephone conversation between Russian and French Presidents Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron. Putin, as reported in the Kremlin, announced the threat of a large-scale catastrophe due to the systematic shelling of the ZNPP by the Ukrainian military.

On August 16, it became known about the start of preparations for the second IAEA mission to ZNPP. According to Mikhail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, the preparations are still going slowly because of the vacation of the agency’s director, Rafael Grossi.

On August 11, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that shelling of the Zaporizhzhya NPP by the Ukrainian military could lead to catastrophic consequences, exceeding the scale of the Chernobyl explosion, and the catastrophe could affect not only Russia and Ukraine, but also European countries.

Zaporozhye NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper near the city of Energodar. Four days after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian troops took control of the station. Subsequently, Energodar and the nuclear power plant were repeatedly shelled by the Ukrainian military.

Subscribe on Vedomosti on Telegram and stay up to date with the main economic and business news.