“This mission is, in fact, extreme military-technical tourism”
The IAEA mission, which is heading to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant without special passes, is stuck in line at the contact line. Only bypassing the checkpoint and strict inspection, you can get to the territory controlled by the Russian Federation and further to the station. There are about 1,500 people in line. And on a general basis — 19 vehicles with international IAEA inspectors. About who might actually be part of this team, and what its true goals, we talked with a military expert, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine; Igor Korotchenko.
Photo: AP
According to the head of the military-civilian administration (CAA) of the Zaporozhye region Yevgeny Balitsky, the local authorities asked to expedite the process of entry of the IAEA delegation to the liberated territory of the Zaporozhye region. But the VGA did not meet them halfway. Having decided that it would be useful for the inspectors to stand in a general queue and talk with the people.
Evgeny Balitsky specified that, most likely, the delegation would arrive at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant only on the morning of Thursday, September 1.
< p>“This IAEA mission is, in fact, extreme military-technical tourism,” says Igor Korotchenko. “We need the constant presence of IAEA specialists at the Zaporizhzhya NPP so that they can record the Ukrainian shelling of the plant. Or serve as a counter to such shelling. If suddenly Ukraine decides to strike, then representatives of the IAEA may suffer, too.
– It can be assumed that the delegation includes members of the special services, career intelligence officers. This concerns, first of all, such states as Poland and Lithuania, where, by the way, there are no nuclear power plants, however, these specialists are included in the arriving team.
We remember the OSCE observers who “observed” the ceasefire in Donbas. As it turned out later, half of them were regular officers of the Western intelligence services. Plus, they transmitted information, intelligence to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
– The goal of the West and Ukraine, and maybe the IAEA, we will look at their practical deeds, is to force the Russian armed forces to leave both the territory of the nuclear power plant and the surrounding areas. But this is unrealistic, because our side does not have any weapons on the territory of the nuclear power plant, much less shelling Ukrainian positions from there. And, on the contrary, Ukraine strikes in the expectation that there will be a depressurization of the storage of spent nuclear fuel, which will entail a large-scale man-made disaster.
– First of all, this is a political gesture of support for Ukraine. Secondly, Zelensky admonished them. One can imagine what this parting word was: put pressure on Russia, force it to leave all the territories adjacent to the nuclear power plant. Transfer the station to Ukrainian control.
Listen, that's not how it's done. It will not happen. Therefore, I emphasize once again, we will draw conclusions based on the final results. But personally, I do not expect any specific results in this format. For us, the end result is the cessation of UAF strikes on the station. And, apparently, this trip, in many ways, is on duty and familiarization.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the IAEA mission planned to arrive at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on August 31 and stay there with an inspection until September 3.