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Moscow: Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant will remain under Russian control

Moscow: Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant will remain under Russian control

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Tuesday that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant was a Russian facility, and it was impossible to transfer control of this plant to Ukraine or other countries.

The ministry said that it was also not permissible to operate the plant jointly, as it would make it impossible to ensure the safety of the station in terms of both physical and nuclear security.

The report said that the Zaporizhzhia Region, which is partly controlled by Russian troops, was one out of four regions in Ukraine to be annexed into Russia as a result of referendums held seven months after Moscow invaded its neighbor. A presidential decree also made it Russian property.

Western nations have dismissed referendums as fakes.

The ministry's statement stated that "the return of the station to Russia’s nuclear sector is a fait accompli since quite some time." It is not possible to transfer the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant under the control of Ukraine, or any other country.

The station was taken by Russian forces early in the invasion. Since then, both sides have accused each other of staging attacks to endanger the safety of the plant. It is Europe's biggest with six reactors.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog is stationed at the site, just as it is at all other Ukrainian nuclear power plants, even though the plant no longer produces electricity.

Ukraine rejects 2022 as a date for annexation and demands that the station be returned to Ukraine.

Donald Trump, U.S. president during a telephone conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskiy his Ukrainian counterpart this month suggested that the United States might help run or even own Ukraine's nucleo power plants.

Zelenskiy claimed that the plants belonged to the Ukrainians. He claimed he had spoken with Trump about a possible U.S. Investment in the plant. (Reporting and editing by Hugh Lawson, Rod Nickel and Ron Popeski)

(source: Reuters)