The Kremlin called the alarming situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant

The situation around the Zaporizhzhya NPP remains alarming, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, told reporters.

“It (the situation at the ZNPP) is still alarming, as before, the Ukrainian side considers it possible to carry out shelling,” he said at a briefing.

Answering the question of journalists whether contacts between President Vladimir Putin and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi are possible, Peskov said that such contacts are not yet scheduled in the schedule, but they are possible if such a need arises.

“I want to remind you that in St. Petersburg they met with the condition that, if necessary, continue the dialogue. Therefore, if there is a need, if there is a corresponding request, then it is impossible to exclude both a telephone contact and a meeting – if it is really necessary. Because, after all, the main interlocutor of Mr. Grossi is “Rosatom“, mister [Алексей] Likhachev, Foreign Ministry,” he said.

Yesterday, January 11, Grossi announced that next week will arrive to Ukraine, where he plans to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. After that, he hopes to visit Russia.

The last time the head of the IAEA visited Moscow was on December 22, 2022. Then Grossi and Director General of the state corporation Roscosmos Alexei Likhachev discussed approaches to creating a nuclear and physical safety protection zone at the Zaporozhye NPP. For the last time, Putin met with Grossi on October 11, 2022 in St. Petersburg.

Russia has controlled the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant since the end of February, since then the plant and the city of Energodar, in which it is located, have been subjected to regular shelling from Ukraine. 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.