Published on: 08/19/2022 – 17:31 Modified on: 08/19/2022 – 23:06
In a phone interview on Friday, Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an inspection of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, a target of bombings, to be organized “as soon as possible”.
The two leaders “stressed the importance of sending an International Atomic Energy Agency mission to the nuclear power plant as soon as possible, which will be able to assess the situation on the ground,” the Kremlin said, specifying that the interview took place on Initiative by Emmanuel Macron.
“The Russian side has confirmed that it is ready to provide all necessary assistance to the nuclear agency’s inspectors,” the same source said. For its part, the French Presidency stated that Emmanuel Macron “supported the deployment of an IAEA expert mission on the ground as soon as possible, under conditions approved by Ukraine and the United Nations”. According to Élysée, the two presidents must speak to each other again “in the coming days on this subject, after the exchange between the technical teams and before the deployment of the mission”. The Élysée states that Vladimir Putin accepted that the IAEA’s mission “bypasses Ukraine”.
Fear of a great catastrophe
During this interview, Vladimir Putin also emphasized “that the systematic bombing […] of the territory of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant creates the danger of a large-scale disaster, which could lead to radioactive contamination of large areas,” the Kremlin said.
For his part, Emmanuel Macron “repeated his concern about the risks that the situation at the Zaporijjia power plant poses for nuclear safety and security”, Elysée pointed out to seek two days with President Zelensky and this morning with President Putin the essential commitments to ensure safety in nuclear matters,” said Emmanuel Macron in the evening for his speech at the start of school in Bormes-les-Mimosa.
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Located in southern Ukraine and controlled by Russian forces, the Zaporizhia power plant, the largest in Europe, has been bombed several times in recent weeks, with Moscow and Kyiv blaming each other for the attacks. This situation raised the specter of a great catastrophe similarly those of Chernobyl 1986
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Moscow to do so on Friday Do not disconnect the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from the Ukrainian gridfeared by the Kiev authorities.
Resumption of dialogue between Macron and Putin
Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron had not called each other since May 28. Earlier, the French president had held phone calls with Vladimir Putin in early May, early March and five times in February amid rising tensions leading up to the February 24 Kremlin offensive in Ukraine. On February 7, he also traveled personally to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.
These multiple contacts have drawn criticism from Emmanuel Macron, with some accusing him of maintaining regular exchanges with the Kremlin chief without managing to prevent the launch of an offensive against Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin and Macron also discussed an agreement signed in Istanbul in July to unblock Ukrainian grain exports. In return, Moscow is demanding the lifting of restrictions on its exports of agricultural products and fertilizers, which have been hit by Western sanctions against Russia since the start of its offensive against Ukraine. President Putin “pointed out the obstacles that still stand in the way of Russian exports, which does not help to solve the problems related to world food security,” according to the Kremlin. France assumes that there is “no obstacle” to the export of Russian agricultural goods, the Elysee announced on Friday.
Emmanuel Macron condemns Russia’s “brutal attack”.
In his speech in Borme-les-Mimosas, Emmanuel Macron condemned Russia’s “brutal attack”: “The war has returned to European soil just a few hours from our borders […] The spirits of revenge, the blatant violations of the sovereignty of states, the intolerable contempt of peoples, the imperialist will reemerge from the past to assert themselves in the daily life of our Europe. »
The French President also spoke of the consequences of an ongoing war in Ukraine. “I think of our people, who will need the strength of the soul to face the times to come, to resist uncertainties, sometimes relief and adversity, and to pay the price of our freedom and our values together”. head of state A way of telling the French once again that the coming times are likely to be difficult.
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(With AFP)