MOSCOW, Aug 28 - Russia called on Wednesday for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to adopt a "more objective and clearer" approach to nuclear safety. This request comes a day after the IAEA's chief visited a Russian nuclear plant located near an area where Ukraine has recently launched an incursion .
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited the Kursk nuclear facility on Tuesday, where he expressed concerns about the risk of a serious nuclear accident. During his tour, Grossi inspected damage caused by a drone strike the previous week. While Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attack, Grossi did not assign responsibility for the incident.
According to the Russian state news agency RIA, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated in a radio interview that Moscow wants the IAEA to be more explicit about nuclear security issues. However, she clarified that Russia is not insisting the agency adopt a pro-Russian stance.
"We see both the assessments and the work of the IAEA, but each time we want a more objective and clearer expression of the agency's position," Zakharova said. "Not to favor our country or to endorse Moscow's stance, but to focus on the facts with a specific goal: ensuring safety and preventing a catastrophic scenario, which the Kyiv regime is pushing everyone towards."
Zakharova's remarks reflect growing pressure from Moscow on the IAEA, which has consistently urged both sides to avoid combat near nuclear facilities throughout the 30-month conflict to prevent a catastrophic incident.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that, while the IAEA does not have a mandate to assign blame, "there is no question about the guilt of the Ukrainian side in escalating the nuclear danger."
Ukraine has yet to respond to Russian accusations that it attacked the plant near the site of a surprise incursion on August 6, which Russia is still attempting to repel. Fighting continues about 40 km (25 miles) from the facility.
On Wednesday, Russia's National Guard reported that its sappers discovered a shell from a U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple launch rocket system 5 km from the plant, as well as a rocket fragment containing 180 unexploded munitions. A video released by the National Guard showed two soldiers inspecting the rocket fragments, which they claimed had been shot down by Russian air defenses and had partially exploded in mid-air. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the purported find, and Reuters was unable to independently verify the video's location.
During his visit, Grossi noted that the plant, built to Soviet design, is particularly vulnerable because it lacks a containment dome, which could offer protection against drone, missile, or artillery strikes, unlike most modern nuclear power stations.
When asked by a reporter to label the drone damage as a "nuclear provocation" by Ukraine, Grossi responded, "Pointing fingers is something that I, as director general of the IAEA, must take extremely seriously. But it is clear that you cannot separate what we have seen here from the recent military activity in the area."