Ukraine’s IAEA Representative on Grossi’s statement: ZNPP and all occupied territories remain Ukrainian
Yuriy Vitrenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, stressed this in a comment to Ukrinform, commenting on the statement by IAEA Director General Grossi that the rotation of experts at ZNPP took place "exceptionally through Russian territory”.
Today, the IAEA leadership under pressure from Russia has made a second gross mistake. Zaporizhzhya NPP, as well as other territories temporarily occupied by Russia, have been and will remain Ukrainian. Period,” Vitrenko emphasized.
According to him, the first mistake was to bring a new group of IAEA experts to ZNPP through the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine - “despite our repeated unofficial and official categorical warnings.”
“The second was to call the route of this uncoordinated rotation 'exceptionally through Russian territory'. It is extremely strange that we have to remind you of basic things again: the activities of international organizations on the sovereign territory of Ukraine, especially in the context of Russia's war of aggression, must be carried out exclusively in accordance with our national legislation, international law and the UN Charter. We demand that the IAEA leadership strictly adhere to this imperative,” said the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna.
As reported by Ukrinform, on Monday, during a press conference in Vienna, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that the rotation of the agency's experts at the Zaporizhzhia NPP was carried out “exceptionally through Russian territory” and this was dictated by the need to protect the lives of mission members.
The day before, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity by a number of IAEA staff members as a result of Russian blackmail and systematic attempts to impose illegal and controversial mechanisms of activity on international organizations in the temporarily occupied territories.
It was pointed out that the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was a particular example of such Russian blackmail. Russia actually forced the IAEA staff to stay at the plant without rotation for 80 days, which is much longer than planned, keeping people under unprecedented psychological pressure in a high-risk area.
Ukraine has repeatedly offered a safe and legal rotation route through government-controlled territory. However, Moscow has systematically refused to provide the IAEA with security assurances under these conditions. The Kremlin deliberately blocked the safe departure of specialists through the territory controlled by Ukraine, forcing the Agency to agree to Russian conditions.
Ukraine has sent a note of protest to the IAEA leadership, condemning the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country and warning against any similar actions in the future.
Photo: Facebook/Yuriy Vitrenko
