Can we talk about good news in the midst of a brutal war like the one in Ukraine? Yes, if it is a question of avoiding a nuclear catastrophe. For the first time in history, a civilian nuclear site is at the center of a high-intensity conflict.
The good news is the announcement arrived on August 29 of the departure of the mission of the Intentional Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea). IAEA experts, which reports its reports to the United Nations and the Security Council, are on their way to the Zaporizhya power plant in Ukraine, occupied by the Russians since last March and threatened by the conflict.
The presence of IAEA experts does not mean that the fate of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is safe. The risk is real. But the fact remains that until a few days ago the mission was not taken for granted, and the release shows that there is still room for diplomacy, even if the fighting continues, as in the city of Cherson, in the south, at the center of the attempt. of reconquest of the Ukrainian army.
Security check
To unblock the situation, each of the two fronts made important concessions. Vladimir Putin, on the occasion of a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on August 19, accepted that the IAEA mission would appear in Ukraine without going through Russia as Moscow initially requested. For Ukraine it is a question of sovereignty, as well as of principle.
Ukraine, on the other hand, has finally accepted the Russian claim that experts from two countries, the United States and the United Kingdom, were excluded from the mission, which will include France, Italy and Lithuania, NATO states, together with exponents of others. villages.
A sign of the importance of the mission is that it will be led by the IAEA director general, the Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi. This gives the initiative an enormous political weight that will have an impact when it is necessary to draw conclusions from this visit, preparing the “after”, or the possibility of securing the nuclear power plant in the long term.
The IAEA’s mission is to inspect atomic structures and make a safety diagnosis. Last week, after the shutdown of electricity production for a few hours, serious doubts emerged, while exchanges of artillery shells threatened some structures. Experts demanded to be able to speak to the Ukrainian staff of the plant, also because some employees have made it known that they work in unacceptable conditions.
But what will happen after the visit? Has Putin simply made a concession to dampen criticism and is preparing to tighten the grip of control? Doubt is legitimate. Is it possible that the head of the Kremlin wants to direct electricity to Russian areas where the plant produces 20 percent of Ukraine’s electricity?
Or will Putin accept the demilitarization of the power plant? The Russian president will certainly ask for concessions. Once again we ask ourselves what Putin’s intentions are, who today frightens the world with the threat of a nuclear apocalypse.
At the very least, as long as the IAEA is in place, a de facto ceasefire will have to be respected. A relief for the inhabitants of this region who fear a new catastrophe, thirty-six years after the Chernobyl trauma.
(Translation by Andrea Sparacino)