Putin does not plan a new meeting with the head of the IAEA

MOSCOW, 18 Oct – PRIME. There is no new meeting with the head of the IAEA in the schedule of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the issue of security around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, but if necessary, there will be no problems with coordination, said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President.

The Kremlin answered the question about the possibility of extending the “grain deal”

“So far, there is no such meeting in the president’s schedule, but, on the other hand, the previous meeting was very promptly coordinated, so there will be no problems with this if necessary,” Peskov said, answering a question from journalists about whether a meeting between the Russian president and head of the IAEA on the issue of security around the Zaporizhzhya NPP.

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, told reporters that it was possible to reach an agreement on a security zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant before the end of the year.

Zaporozhye NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper near the town of Energodar. This is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in terms of the number of units and installed capacity – the plant has six power units with a capacity of 1 gigawatt each. Since March, it has been under the protection of the Russian military. The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that this step was justified in order to avoid leakage of nuclear and radioactive materials. The Ukrainian military continues to regularly shell Enerhodar and the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant adjacent to the city.

In early September, an IAEA mission headed by Director General Rafael Grossi arrived at the ZNPP. The head of the delegation of “Rosatom” and the staff of the station led the delegation of the IAEA through its territory and showed the sections of the station that had been damaged during the shelling of Ukrainian troops. Two IAEA employees remained at ZNPP on a permanent basis. As a result of the visit of the mission, the IAEA published a report in which it confirmed the fact of shelling of the ZNPP.