Calls for demilitarizing ZNPP unrealistic as there no troops and weapons there — diplomat - TASS

Calls for demilitarizing the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant are unrealistic, as no troops and heavy weapons are deployed to it, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Mikhail Ulyanov said on Friday.

"The call [for demilitarizing the Zaporozhye NPP] is absolute unrealistic, because there is nothing to demilitarize there. There are neither heavy weapons nor army units there, but from radiation, chemical and biological protection forces, who are not combat units. They are tasked to measure radiation level and take various steps in case of an accident to maximally neutralize possible consequences, if such an accident occurs. Rosatom (Russian state nuclear corporation - TASS) employees have nothing to do with the defense ministry either. So, what is to be demilitarized?," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.

He stressed that Russia will not withdraw Russian Guard units from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as they ensure the facility’s protection. "[Such facilities] are protected worldwide. And, naturally, we are not going to withdraw protection," he said, adding that it is important to see that reports about Russia’s alleged military base at the Zaporozhye NPP are fakes.

Reuters reported earlier that the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors on September 15 passed a resolution calling on Russia to withdraw from the Zaporozhye NPP. According to the news agency, the resolution was passed with 26 votes in favor. Russia and China voted against the document and seven countries abstained from voting. The Canada-and Poland-initiated resolution calls on Russia to "immediately cease all actions against, and at, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and any other nuclear facility in Ukraine."