Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia has not yet received any proposal from the US to give up control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine and that changing the ownership of the facility is unlikely.
In an interview with CBS's Face the Nation - aired last week and broadcast on April 27, Foreign Minister Lavrov said that safety requirements for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "had been fully implemented and in the hands of very good people".
"No, we have never received such a proposal, and if any, we will explain that Zaporizhzhia nuclear factory is operated by the Russian state corporation Rosatom. The factory is being supervised by the IAEA staff at this location. If there is no regular efforts of Ukraine to attack the factory and create a nuclear disaster for Europe and Ukrainians, the requirements are also full of safety requirements, then the requirements are also full Enough. The factory is in the hands of very good people.
He stressed, "we have not received any specific proposals" and "it is impossible to speculate about something that is not really mentioned in the negotiations."
Previously, Bloomberg reported that in an effort to promote an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine, the Trump administration is promoting cooperation with the Russian energy industry. In this effort, there is a proposal that the US will take over the Zaporizhzhia plant, considering it a neutral territory and any amount of electricity produced from the plant will be supplied to both Ukraine and Russia.
Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments were in line with the Russian Foreign Ministry's statement in March this year, emphasizing that Moscow will not ceding control of the Zaporizhzhia plant or agree to jointly operate the nuclear power plant with another country.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the town of Enerhodar. Europe's largest nuclear power plant has now stopped working. Russia has taken control of Zaporizhzhia since the first weeks of launching the conflict in Ukraine in early 2022.
Zaporizhzhia is currently managed by Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, with supervisors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the United Nations' nuclear watchdog - working in rotation at the facility.
In March this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that if the US helps the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant return to Ukraine and invest in the plant, Washington and Kiev can cooperate. The Ukrainian president estimates that it will take years of repairs to safely return Zaporizhzhia to operation.
