Russia: IAEA claims of Zaporizhzhia explosions are provocation
Russia's nuclear power station operations company Rosenergoatom said on Thursday that claims made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about explosions near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine are untrue and represent a "provocation."
"I can’t call it anything other than a provocation. Before giving out such information, it needs to be verified, established, and not rely on hearing. On the one hand, they want to show that they are doing something useful, on the other hand, they are again planting an opinion in the Western public, the idea that Russia is not coping with ensuring nuclear security," Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, stated.
Earlier, the IAEA said its experts reported "powerful explosions" near the nuclear site in recent days, claiming this indicates "military activities in the vicinity of the site," and called for a swift creation of a Nuclear Safety and Security Protection Zone around the plant.