Russia accuses the UN of distancing itself over its requests for it to visit the Zaporizhia plant

Moscow acknowledges that the fighting is a problem but insists that the General Secretariat allow the trip of an IAEA team at the end of the month

Aug. 14 () –

The senior Russian diplomat Mijail Ulianov has lamented the distancing that, in his opinion, he is perceiving in the United Nations in recent days regarding Moscow’s requests to visit the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces, and the scene of fighting that could lead to a catastrophe, according to the UN nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Moscow and kyiv have been accusing each other for days of launching attacks against the plant and its surroundings, between the warnings issued by the director of the IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, theoretically the person in charge of undertaking this observation and supervision mission that the Secretary General of the UN, according to Moscow has avoided approving at the moment for security reasons and itinerary problems.

“The IAEA has requested help to organize a mission, but the UN has been somewhat distant on this issue,” lamented Ulianov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, the usual epicenter of nuclear talks between world powers. .

“The role of the UN in this case is reduced to the fact that the Security department of the Secretariat must give the ‘green light’ for a trip to a conflict zone, but everything else is the prerogative of the IAEA,” he explained in statements. to the Russian agency TASS.

“We believe that this IAEA visit should not be delayed, it would be good to do it in late August or early September, but not everything depends on us,” he added.

However, Ulianov has acknowledged that Grossi’s journey is a “delicate” issue. The IAEA director general could travel under Russian protection through the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014, but kyiv would perceive it as an affront.

“We worked very closely with the organization in May or July and prepared the visit, but the UN Secretariat blocked it at the last moment without explaining the reasons,” said the diplomat, who considered the constant fighting in area.

“You cannot send an international team under constant artillery attacks. That is the main obstacle,” he acknowledged. In this regard, he has asked Ukraine to cease its military activities and “guarantee the safety of the participants in this mission.”

In a new dart against kyiv, Ulianov lamented that the IAEA “refrains from naming the guilty party” and estimates that “perhaps, in the course of the mission, something will change for the better in this regard, since the organization’s experts they will be able to see what is happening there.”