Russian occupiers prevent journalists from visiting ZNPP alongside IAEA mission – Zelenskyy
OLENA ROSHCHINA – THURSDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2022, 22:26
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that despite a preliminary agreement with Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), journalists were not able to accompany the IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). Only Russian propaganda media were allowed to be present.
Source: President Zelenskyy in a video address
Details: President Zelenskyy said despite all the provocations by the Russian military and the cynical shelling of Enerhodar and the territory of the plant, the IAEA mission arrived at the ZNPP on Thursday, 1 September. However, the Russian occupiers were attempting to turn the visit into "a fruitless tour of the plant."
Nonetheless, President Zelenskyy said he hopes that the IAEA experts will make impartial conclusions concerning the risks that exist at the ZNPP.
"Russia did a lot of deceitful things to mislead the mission, including intimidating the residents of Enerhodar. The occupiers forced people to lie to the IAEA representatives, to hand over some documents, sign something, say something," said Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, the Russian occupiers had barred western journalists from participating in the ZNPP visit.
Quote: "When we met with Mr Grossi and the members of the [IAEA] mission in Kyiv, we agreed that the mission would be accompanied by journalists from Ukrainian and international media, independent journalists, for the world to see the truth, to see what is really happening.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t done, despite the fact that we were promised that it would be. Unfortunately, the occupiers did not let the journalists in, but instead delegated a bunch of their propagandists. Unfortunately, the IAEA representatives did not protect the representatives of independent media and their right to participate in the ZNPP visit.
We are hopeful that the mission will nevertheless draw impartial conclusions regarding the circumstances at the plant."
Details: Zelenskyy stressed that for over three decades, the Chernobyl plant and four nuclear power plants currently in operation in Ukraine have been under the control of Ukrainian specialists. The IAEA has not taken any issues with the functioning of any of these facilities "until Russia invaded our territory and brought its madness here."
The president said that when the Russian military finally leaves the territory of the ZNPP, when they take away their weapons and ammunition, stop shelling the ZNPP and cease their provocations, "the Zaporizhzhia plant will be able to return to a completely safe functioning, which has always been the case under the control of Ukraine."
Quote: "And the key thing that should happen is the demilitarisation of the territory of the plant. This is exactly the goal of Ukrainian and international efforts. And it is bad that we have not yet heard the relevant calls from the IAEA, although we did discuss this with Mr Grossi during our meeting in Kyiv.
This was the key – the key! – security issues in our agreements. It was clearly stated: demilitarisation and full control by Ukrainian nuclear specialists."
Background: It took a long time to arrange the IAEA mission’s visit to the ZNPP because the Russian occupiers controlling the station had at first refused to issue special passes to the IAEA team. The team of 14 experts eventually arrived at the ZNPP on 1 September; the majority of them left several hours after that, leaving five inspectors behind.
Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that the Association’s team will maintain presence at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
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