The State Duma Council will adopt a statement to the UN regarding the threats to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant

On August 25, the State Duma Council will adopt a statement regarding the threat that arose due to the shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). This was announced by the leaders of the Duma factions of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, “A Just Russia” Sergei Mironov and the Liberal Democratic Party Leonid Slutsky following a meeting with the chairman of the chamber Vyacheslav Volodin. Besides Zyuganov and Slutsky, Chairman of the Committee on Energy Pavel Zavalny and Chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs Leonid Kalashnikov will make a report at the council.

The council’s statement will be addressed to the UN. According to Zyuganov, State Duma committees will have to hold consultations with relevant ministries on this topic. Volodin, according to the leader of the Communist Party, discussed this topic with the president. Zyuganov recalled that he served in a platoon of radiation and chemical reconnaissance in the Soviet army, “that’s why, perhaps, he perceives this topic more sharply than others.” “Those who shell the ZNPP should be aware that this could be an accident on a planetary scale – not Ukrainian or even European,” said the leader of the Communist Party.

On August 18, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that on August 19, the Ukrainian armed forces were planning to “deliver artillery strikes” on the territory of the Russian-controlled nuclear plant. According to Konashenkov, Kyiv wants to lay the blame for this on Russia. Zyuganov even then made a proposal to convene the council of the Duma. At the same time, the situation around the ZNPP was discussed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and UN Secretary General António Guterres in Lvov.

The statement of the State Duma on the situation at the ZNPP is necessary to demonstrate unity and cohesion, political scientist Alexei Makarkin believes: “It is unlikely that the Russian argumentation coming from the State Duma will somehow be taken into account by the UN, and the deputies understand this. Rather, it is important for them to show the cohesion of the political class to the Western audience.” The statement on Okhotny Ryad began to be prepared just at the moment when Russia requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council on August 23 to discuss the “threat to international peace and security” due to the ZNPP, according to Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN.

The meeting of the UN Security Council on the topic of the ZNPP was already held on August 11. Then Russia’s Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzya said that “Kyiv’s attacks on nuclear infrastructure facilities are pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe comparable in scale to that of Chernobyl.” Representatives of Western countries said that the actions of Russia, which launched a special military operation in Ukraine, led to the escalation.

Zelensky and Guterres discussed, among other things, the visit of the delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ZNPP. Here the positions of Ukraine, the UN Secretary General and the Russian authorities differ greatly. Russia believes that the delegation should be taken through the territory under its control, while Guterres and the Ukrainian authorities believe that the delegation can go from Kyiv. Russia is calling IAEA inspectors, which means that there is some evidence of shelling of the Zaporizhzhya NPP by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, says Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian Council on International Affairs. Ukraine is interested in the internationalization of the conflict, the expert notes. Even at its early stage, there was an opinion that such facilities should be placed under international control, Kortunov notes: for example, to call on peacekeepers, thereby drawing other countries into the ongoing events.