Moscow, Kiev do not oppose IAEA principles to protect Zaporizhzhia plant

2023-05-31T05:52:27.134Z

Highlights: Moscow, Kiev do not oppose IAEA principles to protect Zaporizhzhia plant. Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi presented on Tuesday 30 May to the UN his "five principles" to secure the plant. Grossi has been trying for months to reach an agreement to prevent a nuclear disaster at all costs. Just a week ago, fears were at their highest, says RFI's correspondent in New York, Carrie Nooten. The Security Council cannot pass a resolution of condemnation: Russia would immediately block it with its veto.

The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi presented Tuesday, May 30 at the UN his "five principles" to secure the Zaporizhjia plant - while it has been months...

Moscow, Kiev do not oppose IAEA principles to protect Zaporizhzhia plant

The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi presented on Tuesday 30 May to the UN his "five principles" to secure the Zaporizhjia plant - while he has been trying for months to reach an agreement to prevent a nuclear disaster at all costs: just a week ago, fears were at their highest. If these five ideas are quite basic, he himself acknowledged, they have been agreed upon by both the Russian and Ukrainian sides.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to reporters alongside Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis after a UN Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on May 30, 2023. © Seth Wenig / AP

Text by: RFI Follow

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With our correspondent in New York, Carrie Nooten

In Europe's largest power plant, which has fallen into the hands of Russian soldiers, high-voltage wires are regularly bombed, buildings have been militarized, and yet the Security Council cannot pass a resolution of condemnation: Russia would immediately block it with its veto.

So, after months of negotiations that came to nothing, after failing to install a protection zone around the plant, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi focused on five principles that Ukraine and Russia have not rejected: progress, according to him.

Today, we have taken a step in the right direction, he defended. Of course, history has shown that in times of war, the agreements reached are not strictly respected. But the IAEA has the power of the pen: the international community will know immediately what is happening. And that's quite a deterrent.

As of today, therefore, Kiev and Moscow must refrain from any attack from or in the direction of the plant, not store heavy weapons or ammunition, and guarantee the continuous power supply of the buildings. Principles that are pure "common sense", already laid down in international law, but which are the only way so far to gather a slight consensus.

Moscow, Kiev do not oppose IAEA principles to protect Zaporizhzhia plant

Moscow, Kiev do not oppose IAEA principles to protect Zaporizhzhia plant

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