Lead

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev met in Kaliningrad on July 10 to discuss nuclear safety, with Grossi reaffirming that attacks on any nuclear power plant are utterly unacceptable. The meeting, which included representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry, Rostekhnadzor, and Rosgvardiya, focused on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the Bushehr NPP in Iran, according to a TASS correspondent.

Coverage Comparison

Reporting from TASS’s English-language service provides details of the meeting and its context. According to TASS, the talks in Kaliningrad were expected to cover the situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the Bushehr NPP in Iran. A source article notes that representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry, the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor), and the National Guard (Rosgvardiya) were expected to participate, alongside Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov.

Another TASS article focuses on Grossi’s statements after the discussions, emphasizing his firm stance on the protection of nuclear facilities worldwide. A third article quotes Mikhail Ulyanov expressing Russian hopes that the situation in Energodar and around the Zaporozhye plant would improve following the negotiations.

Key Claims

  • Meeting under way: A meeting between Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi began in Kaliningrad, with participants including representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry, Rostekhnadzor, and Rosgvardiya, as reported by TASS.
  • Agenda: The sides were expected to discuss the situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the Bushehr NPP in Iran, according to TASS.
  • Likhachev’s call for IAEA response: Likhachev said Russia would seek a response from the IAEA to what he described as psychological attacks against residents of Energodar and personnel of the Zaporozhye NPP. He reportedly warned of a decline in the “pain threshold of sensitivity” to attacks on the plant and Energodar, calling it a dangerous trend, and said the world was “one step away from a catastrophe.” He stressed that Russia was using “all levers, primarily those of the IAEA, to convey to both the international community and European leaders the dangers of what the Kiev regime is doing.”
  • Grossi’s reaffirmation: Grossi reaffirmed that any attack on a nuclear power plant, regardless of its location, is utterly unacceptable. He emphasized that the issue being addressed at the UN Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors is unequivocal — attacks on nuclear facilities are impossible and intolerable. He stated that whether the target is Zaporozhye, Bushehr, Barakah, or Kursk, the name of the facility makes no difference; the principle remains the same.
  • IAEA monitoring and restraint: The IAEA is not currently observing or confirming any direct attack on the Bushehr NPP in Iran, according to Grossi. The agency, like Rosatom, is monitoring the situation at Bushehr and urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint, as the physical integrity of any nuclear facility is the absolute safety priority. Any impact on the physical integrity of nuclear facilities is absolutely unacceptable, he reiterated.
  • Russian hopes for improvement: Russia hopes that the situation in Energodar and around the Zaporozhye nuclear power station will improve after the negotiations, Mikhail Ulyanov told reporters. He said Russia had “reasonable complaints about how slowly and insufficiently strongly the agency's secretariat reacted to the incidents that took place in Energodar, especially since the end of April, when there was a sharp intensification of hostilities.” He said he got the impression that they “found a common language, reached a common understanding,” and added that “there is hope” the situation in Energodar would improve.

Perspectives

  • IAEA: Director General Rafael Grossi reiterated that attacks on any nuclear power plant, regardless of location, are utterly unacceptable, and emphasized the international community’s responsibility to condemn and prevent such actions. He noted that the IAEA is monitoring the situation at Bushehr and urges maximum restraint, while stating that the agency was not observing a direct attack on the Iranian plant.
  • Russia: Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev and diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov voiced concerns about the safety of the Zaporozhye plant and the residents of Energodar. Likhachev said Russia would seek an IAEA response to what he called psychological attacks, warning of a dangerous trend. Ulyanov expressed hope for improvement after the talks, while acknowledging that Russia had complaints about the IAEA secretariat’s reaction to incidents in Energodar.