Russian Foreign Ministry ready to discuss IAEA idea to leave permanent mission at Zaporizhzhya NPP

MOSCOW. Aug 31 (Interfax) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s proposal to leave its permanent mission at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is being discussed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on Wednesday.

"Let's look at the first results of its presence there. They have not even reached the site yet. But it is not ruled out," Rudenko told reporters in Moscow.

"This issue is being discussed," he said.

Hopefully, the IAEA mission's arrival "will help realistically assess the situation and dispel the fakes that have been spread by Ukraine and the West that it is Russia that has been shelling the power plant," Rudenko said.

Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, in turn, said that Russia positively assesses the IAEA's plans to establish a permanent presence at the Zaporizhzhya NPP.

"Russia welcomes this intention," Ulyanov said on Telegram.

The Zaporizhzhya NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The facility is now in the zone of the armed conflict in Ukraine. The Russian Armed Forces took control of the Zaporizhzhya NPP in early March. The station has repeatedly come under fire.