Russia - using Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as leverage . . .

[Oscar]

Despite the risks, Russia continues to use Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as a source of leverage

[ https://thebulletin.org/2024/06/despite ... k&utm_term ]

By Darya Dolzikova | June 6, 2024

"To minimize Russia's leverage from holding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant at risk, Ukraine's partners must press Moscow to keep all reactors shut down and help Kyiv to prepare for a possible nuclear safety incident at the plant." - (Credit: Image by Florent via Adobe Stock)

EXCERPT: "In April, The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia may be planning to restart at least one of the six reactors at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), which Russia has occupied since March 2022. The reporting raised concerns about the safety of the plant, were such a decision to be taken. Then on May 28, Aleksey Likhachev, the head of Russia’s state-owned nuclear enterprise, Rosatom, stated that the restarting of the ZNPP would be conditional on guarantees of the facility’s safety, adding that “time will tell” how the requisite safety conditions will be met and that they could be achieved through the retreat of the front line “as far as possible” from the ZNPP.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has since confirmed that an understanding has been reached that the ZNPP’s six reactors “should remain in cold shutdown for the time being.”

But as long as the ZNPP remains under Russian occupation, Moscow will be able to continue using the plant as a source of blackmail to pre-empt any future Ukrainian effort to regain control. To counter Russia’s nuclear blackmailing, Western countries must intensify their military, nuclear safety, and emergency response support to Ukraine, as well as counter Russian disinformation in relation to the state of ZNPP operations and attacks on the facility. Such measures can help minimize the coercive value Moscow may believe it can draw from further threatening the plant’s safety. . . . . "

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