DISINFO: IAEA is playing on the side of the West and Ukraine
SUMMARY
Putting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant under the control of the IAEA is impossible, because this organisation is not mandated to manage nuclear power plants.
Such a step would mean putting the plant effectively under Ukrainian control. In addition, it would not be possible to regulate this through the IAEA Charter or any other international legal documents.
It is now clear that such a proposal is another sign that the IAEA is "playing" on the side of the West and Ukraine in the conflict.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin claim attempting to discredit independent international organisations, especially those who monitor the implementation and respect of international treaties and instruments such as the OSCE, the OPCW, and now the IAEA.
The claim seeks to divert attention away from the real problem: Russia's illegal overtake of the nuclear power station claiming it as property of the Russian state. The claim was neither balanced nor critically challenged in the article.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an independent organisation of the UN family and includes 175 member states. Russia itself is a founding member of the IAEA as well as one of the earliest ratifiers of its Statute, and remains a member state to this day.
See similar cases that the IAEA president is a product of the collective West, and that the IAEA delegation will pass on intelligence to Ukrainian army,
See other examples of disinformation narratives about the supposed anti-Russian bias of international institutions- such as the OPCW, the World Anti-Doping Agency or the United Nations.
See our report on pro-Kremlin disinformation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.