Following the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, the EU, together with Ukraine, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Moldova, called on the Russian Federation to leave the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The Kremlin systematically provokes nuclear risks and threats — the Russian army actually controls the territory of the nuclear facility, and IAEA experts cannot enter the power plant areas to check the conditions for nuclear safety.
Nuclear terror has become Putin’s favorite tool of blackmail. Shelling of the Zaporizhzhia NPP is carried out by the Russian army when actions at the battlefield reach a dead end. Thus, the Kremlin is trying to put pressure on the international community in order to negotiate certain political concessions. However, in the case of provocations at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the whole of Europe is at risk. The blowing up of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station, carried out by the Russians in June of this year, confirms that the Kremlin is lacking in common sense — Putin does not take into account either losses or possible environmental consequences that threaten millions civilians of Ukraine and neighboring countries.
Therefore, putting pressure on a terrorist state is a way to prevent nuclear blackmail — a threat to Europe. Comprehensive sanctions, destructive for the Russian economy, must be tightened in order to force Russia to withdraw from the ZNPP. This is the only way to prevent the largest radiation disaster in Europe since the Chernobyl accident.