The head of the IAEA called the withdrawal of weapons from the ZNPP part of the agreement on its protection

The withdrawal of weapons from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) will become part of the agreement on the protection of nuclear power plants, declared in an interview with the newspaper La Repubblica, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi.

“The withdrawal of weapons from the power plant is what the Ukrainians are asking for, which is understandable from their point of view. And in any case, this will be part of the general agreement, ” said he (quote from RBC).

The head of the IAEA also said that Russia “is not against the agreement and the principle of protecting the station,” and the parties agreed not to shell the station and not to fire from its territory. The purpose of the agreement to create a safe zone around the ZNPP, he said, is to avoid a nuclear accident, and “not to create a militarily favorable situation for one or the other.”

Earlier this week Grossi informed on negotiating the organization of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the end of November, the head of the IAEA announced that he plans to visit Ukraine and Russia again in order to ensure the safety of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

On November 25, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, announced that Russia was negotiating with the IAEA regarding international monitoring of compliance with the agreements on the protective zone near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

Contacts between the IAEA and Moscow and Kyiv have intensified against the background of the resumption of strikes on the ZNPP from the Ukrainian side on November 19 and 20. Grossi called for an immediate halt to the shelling of the station. At the same time, he said that it is difficult for the IAEA specialists to determine who strikes at the object. “Our main goal is to stop this, not play whistleblower,” he said.

Russia has controlled the ZNPP since the end of February. In early October, after the Zaporozhye region became part of Russia, Putin instructed to take the plant facilities into federal ownership and create the Zaporozhye NPP Federal State Unitary Enterprise to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.