Russia’s Drive for UN Security Council Hearing on Kiev’s Artillery Assault on Nuclear Plants

Aug. 11, 2022 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, Russia called for a UN Security Council emergency session, to address the artillery attacks against the six Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors. In TASS yesterday, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, addressed the need for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the facility, an inspection frustrated by the Kiev regime for months now. “In order for the visit to the Zaporizhzhia NPP to happen, proper ability to cooperate is needed on the Ukrainian part. Kiev should not create artificial obstacles and difficulties for the agency in organizing such a visit.” In particular, Kiev has refused to give the IAEA even the paper assurance of security for their visit. One inspection in June was canceled for this reason. Ulyanov optimistically stated: “We are hoping that there will be no such obstacles anymore but, naturally, the Ukrainian side should ensure and guarantee the absence of threats to lives and safety of international officials who will go to the NPP.” He hoped that the UN Security Council would go beyond its previous acceptance of Kiev’s stalling.

At this morning’s news briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesman Ivan Nechayev addressed the larger picture, reporting:

“Over the past few days, the Ukrainian units shelled the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant several times, which constitutes an act of nuclear terrorism. These actions by the Kiev regime can lead to a disaster far worse than the one that took place at the Chernobyl station. In addition to the nearby regions in Ukraine, Russia, the D.P.R. and the L.P.R., European countries can also suffer from exposure to radiation, putting millions of lives there at risk.” 

(It is not an attack against the nuclear plant itself, as attacks upon, e.g., the electrical supply to the cooling system, or upon other safety features.)

Sergei Glazyev, Minister in Charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission, was more blunt. He stated that Zelenskyy, at the direction of Washington, is blackmailing the Russian leadership by shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The essence of blackmail was expressed by the G7 foreign ministers, who demanded that Russia return the nuclear power plant to the control of the Kiev Nazis. In fact, it is nuclear terrorism on the part of the United States and its satellites. The essence of this blackmail is: Either you hand over Energodar, the town where the nuclear complex is located, to the puppet regime, or Kiev blows up the nuclear power plant with catastrophic environmental consequences for Southeastern Europe, including Ukraine. What is this, if not nuclear terrorism? And, judging by the real shelling of the Zaporizhzhia NPP from American guns controlled by the Pentagon, such terrorism is moving into the category of crimes against humanity. That is how it should be said at the UN Security Council.

The issue is that, early in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, they apparently had concerns that the Kiev regime were intent upon a nuclear “dirty bomb,” that, is a conventional bomb, but with radioactive material that would be widely dispersed with the explosion. In early March, Moscow had seized control of Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear energy facility in Europe. While they kept the Ukrainian staff running the facility, to producing significant amounts of energy for Ukraine homes and businesses. Then, on March 4, there was a suspicious confrontation at an adjacent facility, described as a training facility, where reportedly Ukrainian special forces were trying to destroy some records. Regardless, Russia has simply kept the electricity flowing to the Ukrainians the whole time.

Early reports indicate that, at today’s UNSC emergency session, Moscow blamed the UN for the delays in deploying an inspection team, saying that it had been catering to Kiev by allowing it to continue its “provocations,” and that the UN could delay no longer. In a statement today, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on “the parties to provide the IAEA mission with immediate, secure and unfettered access to the site.” Otherwise, he added: “I urge the parties to withdraw any military personnel and equipment from the plant and refrain from any further deployment of forces or equipment to the site. Instead, urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarization to ensure the safety of the area.”