The Russian President, Vladimir Putinsigned a decree on Wednesday ordering the Government to take over the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the largest in Europe, under the control of the Russian Army since March. The plant and the adjacent facilities necessary for its operation must be of state propertysays the presidential decree.
To do this, the Government must create a business responsible for ensuring the security of the facilities, object of attacks during the last two months of which both sides are accused. Precisely for this reason, the reactors of the plant were turned off on September 11, which again triggered the alarms of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Today, Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry has already assured that, after the annexation of the region last Friday, the plant is in national territory, so it must be controlled by state structures of this country. In addition, the Russian company rosenergoatomwhich this week created a company to manage its operation, announced the appointment of a new director for the plant, Oleg Romanenko, a former chief engineer at another Russian plant.
IAEA trip
The state-owned Ukrainian nuclear energy company, Energoatom, denounced on the 1st the arrest and disappearance of the person in charge of the plant, Ihor Muráshov. The head of the plant was finally released on Monday and “expelled” to territory controlled by Ukraine, so he will not take up his work at the plant again.
Putin’s decree was published shortly before the trip of the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, to kyiv and Moscow to continue his consultations aimed at agreeing and implementing a security zone around the plant as soon as possible. The director general of the organization will discuss the establishment of a protection zone around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.
“On my way to kyiv for some important meetings. The need for a protection zone around the plant is more urgent than ever,” Grossi tweeted. The high official of the UN body accompanied his message with photos where he is seen boarding a train.
cross accusations
Related news
Russia and Ukraine have been accusing each other for months of bombing the plant. These attacks have stirred fears of a nuclear catastrophe in a country that suffered in 1986 the Chernobyl power plant accident in 1986.
Grossi visited the plant at the beginning of September and defends the establishment of a security perimeter that Ukraine and Russia commit to “not attack or bomb”.