Russia threatens to kick IAEA monitors out of captured Zaporizhzhia NPP at any moment

Russia can disallow further operation of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should it deem their work unnecessary.

That’s according to a statement by Russia’s foreign affairs ministry posted on Thursday, Ukrinform reports, referring to Radio Liberty.

In this way, Moscow reacted to the words of IAEA Secretary General Rafael Grossi, who stated in an interview with the German news agency DPA that IAEA representatives will be at the nuclear power plant until the armed conflict is frozen.

"Experts from the Secretariat (of the IAEA - ed.) stay at the ZNPP at the request of the Director General himself (Rafael Grossi - ed.) only with the consent from the Government of the Russian Federation and only as long as our country considers their stay there to be justified. The task of specialists from the Agency’s Secretariat is to record provocations against the NPP and its staff from Ukraine’s side," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Diplomats added that it is "absolutely unclear to them on what basis the IAEA management undertakes to judge the prospects of a "freeze", which clearly goes beyond its powers."

Zaporizhzhia NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russian troops occupied the city of Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia NPP located nearby in early March 2022. The NPP premises periodically come under shelling. Ukrainian authorities also stated that the Russian army used the nuclear power plant to store military equipment and deploy its servicemen.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the IAEA called for the immediate withdrawal of Russia’s military and other personnel from the ZNPP territory and the return of the plant to Ukraine’s control to ensure its safety.