The Foreign Ministry announced the visit of the head of the IAEA Grossi to Moscow

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi will visit Moscow this week. This was stated by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov.

Formerly Grossi declared about plans to come to Russia in February. On January 20, the head of the IAEA again emphasized the importance of creating a security zone around the Zaporozhye NPP. According to him, on this issue, he will continue to conduct “intensive” consultations with Russia and Ukraine in the near future.

At the Russian Foreign Ministry notedthat Moscow maintains a dialogue with Grossi in all areas of the agency’s activities, including on the operation of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the creation of a nuclear and security protection zone around this plant.

The previous time Grossi came to Moscow on December 22, 2022. Then the head of the IAEA and the CEO of the state corporation Roscosmos, Alexei Likhachev, discussed approaches to creating a nuclear and physical safety protection zone at the Zaporozhye NPP. On October 11, 2022, Grossi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

Russia has controlled the Zaporozhye NPP since the end of February 2022, since then the Russian side has repeatedly reported that the plant and the city of Energodar, in which it is located, are subjected to regular shelling from Ukraine. In early October, after the Zaporozhye region became part of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to take the plant facilities into federal ownership and create the Zaporozhye NPP FSUE to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.