Moscow has requested “further clarifications” from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the UN nuclear watchdog published a report on the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.

“There is a need for further clarification, because the report contains a number of issues — I will not list them now — but we requested these explanations from the director-general of the IAEA,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the state Interfax news agency on September 7 while attending an economic forum in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

In a report following a mission to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the IAEA said on September 6 that the current situation at the facility was “untenable” and there was “an urgent need for interim measures” to avoid a nuclear accident.

The report urged Russia and Ukraine to establish a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the plant and said shelling at the site and its vicinity should stop immediately to avoid any further damage to the plant and for the safety of its operating staff.

In separate comments on September 7, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the West of putting pressure on the IAEA mission that visited the plant last week. After the mission departed, two members of the IAEA remained at the plant to monitor the situation.

The facility was seized by Russian forces in March, but is still connected to the Ukrainian power grid and is operated by Ukrainian staff. Both the Ukrainian and Russian sides have accused each other of launching attacks on the area.

The RIA Novosti news agency quoted Zakharova as saying that Russia had provided the mission with full data on the source of shelling and was questioning why the mission did not name Ukraine as the source of attacks on the nuclear power plant in its report.

Based on reporting by Interfax and RIA Novosti

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-zaporizhzhya-nuclear-plant-report-russia-clarification/32022224.html