Russia will not let the USA run the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant seized at the beginning of the war with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in an interview with CBS News. He said Moscow had not received such an offer from Washington as part of peace talks. “But if we receive it, we will explain that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is run by the Russian state corporation Rosatom, under the supervision of IAEA personnel who are constantly present at the site,” Lavrov said.
Asked whether he agreed with US President Donald Trump that joint US-Ukrainian management would be the best option to ensure the safety of the ZNPP, Lavrov said the plant was already in “reliable hands.” “I don’t think that changes are possible here,” the minister emphasized. Earlier, the Foreign Ministry ruled out the transfer of ZNPP itself or control over it to Ukraine or another country. “The plant’s return to the Russian nuclear industry is a long-established fact, which the international community has only to recognize,” the ministry stressed.
