Explaining complex things in simple words: situation at ZNPP, provocative statements of Hungary and Romania, pseudo-elections of Putin

SITUATION AT ZNPP

According to the state-owned company Energoatom, the lifetime of fuel in reactors is expiring at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

· The ZNPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and is the third in the world in terms of total capacity. It fully complies with the IAEA requirements.

· At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the ZNPP was seized by Russia, which not only had no experience managing such a powerful power plant, but also resorted to intimidation and torture of Ukrainian power engineers.

· The Russians, in violation of international law, have set up a military base on the territory of the ZNPP and periodically mine the perimeter around the power units.

· Any calls on Moscow to transfer the control over the facility to Kyiv are ignored. On the contrary, the occupation administration provokes an accident by transferring power units from the "cold" to the "hot" state.

· Soon, the maximum six years of operation of nuclear fuel in all six power units of the ZNPP will pass. Its further use can lead to a radiation accident, causing a catastrophe of a global scale.

· Ukraine calls on the international community, led by the IAEA, to exert more pressure on the aggressor country to demilitarize the territory around the ZNPP and prevent a repetition of the Chornobyl disaster.

PROVOCATIVE STATEMENTS BY POLITICIANS OF HUNGARY AND ROMANIA

On January 28, Hungarian politician László Toroczkai announced territorial claims to Zakarpattia if Ukraine is defeated. Claudiu Târziu, the representative of the Romanian AUR party, said that he was ready to sacrifice 

Romania's membership in NATO for the annexation of Ukrainian territories.

· Torozkai's and Târziu's statements do not reflect the official positions of Hungary and Romania. These are radical populist politicians who thus attract attention.

· Membership in NATO implies an unconditional renunciation of territorial claims to other countries and support for the principle of internationally recognized borders.

· NATO membership is the only effective security guarantee for Romania and other

European countries at a time when Moscow is trying to destroy the international order based on respect for law.

· If European countries abandon the principle of respect for territorial integrity, this may lead to chaos throughout the continent. In particular, there is a potential for a conflict between Hungary and Romania.

· Marginal politicians in the EU hope for the defeat of Ukraine in vain. Moreover, the bet on such a scenario poses catastrophic threats primarily to their countries.

PSEUDO-ELECTIONS OF PUTIN

On March 17, another pseudo-election of the President of the Russian Federation will take place.

· Putin is a dictator who usurped power in Russia. He has ruled Russia for almost a quarter of a century.

· Continued absolute power corrupts the Putin regime: it has destroyed the opposition within the country and is waging aggressive wars abroad.

· Putin has turned the lives of Ukrainians into hell and is zombifying Russians with poisonous propaganda, encouraging them to kill and die in a foreign country for the sake of his whims.

· There are no independent elections in totalitarian Russia. On March 17, a propaganda action is being prepared, the purpose of which is to testify to the loyalty of the people to their leader.

· In an illegal way, the Kremlin is drawing millions of Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territories into its electoral farce.

· The Putin regime is involved in serious crimes. The dictator himself is wanted by the International Criminal Court for kidnapping Ukrainian children.

· To put an end to Putin's dictatorship, which threatens the whole world, it is necessary to achieve international non-recognition of Putin's re-election in 2024 and a change in his status to a usurper.

Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security