Zaporiyia authorities condemn Argentinean Rafael Grossi and IAEA's call for Russia to abandon nuclear plant

Authorities in the Zaporiyia region - a Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia through an internationally unrecognized referendum - called the resolution of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that called on Russia to abandon the eponymous nuclear power plant "shameful." "By passing a shameful and politically motivated resolution, the IAEA turns into an incompetent structure that trades its suitability and professionalism in favor of the political interests of the West," Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Zaporiyya regional administration, told Russia's Sputnik news agency. Apparently, Rogov added, "the IAEA deliberately forgets that the nuclear power plant is now on Russian territory since the Zaporiyia region was incorporated into Russia at the end of September." [caption id="attachment_1035742" align="alignnone" width="905"]



Rafael Grossi[/caption] "Following the IAEA's logic - the official stressed - that body could demand that the Ukrainian regime give up its Rovno or Khmelnitsky nuclear power plants, or the Americans their atomic plants." Earlier, the IAEA board of governors had endorsed that resolution with the votes of the United States, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Turkey, all NATO members, as well as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Finland, Guatemala, Ireland, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland and Uruguay. [caption id="attachment_1031539" align="alignnone" width="700"]



Zaporiyia nuclear power plant, Ukraine.[/caption] Russia and China voted against, India, Kenya, Namibia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Vietnam abstained. Burundi and Libya did not participate in the vote. The Zaporiyia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, is in the town of Energodar, on the banks of the Kakhovka reservoir, in an area controlled since last March by Russian troops. For months, Russia and Ukraine have been accusing each other of shelling the plant's facilities. The plant's six reactors are shut down, to minimize the risk of their exposure to the ongoing armed conflict. Early last October, several days after Russia unilaterally annexed the province of Zaporiyia, President Vladimir Putin decreed the transfer of the plant to the Russian federal patrimony.