Status: 01/23/2023 12:00 p.m
Russia’s foreign intelligence service has accused Ukraine of stockpiling weapons in or near nuclear power plants. Similar allegations come from Kyiv: Russia is also stationing military technology in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
The Russian foreign intelligence service (SVR) accuses Ukraine of stationing weapons supplied by the West on the site of nuclear power plants to protect against destruction. Kiev’s tactic is that the Russian troops do not strike at the nuclear power plants because of the danger of a nuclear catastrophe, said the head of the foreign intelligence service, Sergey Naryshkin, in Moscow. The information provided by the secret service cannot be verified.
Naryshkin claimed that there was credible information that, for example, multiple rocket launchers of the “Himars” type and large-caliber artillery were housed there. In the last week of December, railway wagons with the “deadly cargo” were brought to the Rivne nuclear power plant via the Rafalivka railway station in western Ukraine, it said. The SWR secret service did not present any evidence.
“If there is a large detonation and a nuclear power plant is destroyed, for example, by a new missile misdirected by the Ukrainian air defense system, the blame for the tragedy is always shifted to Moscow,” said the SWR report. In November last year, according to NATO, a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile accidentally hit a Polish village. Two civilians died. Ukraine initially blamed Russia for the missile strike.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
Same accusation against Russia
Ukraine, on the other hand, accused Russia of also stationing military technology on the site of the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Again, this information cannot be independently verified.
In the course of its war of aggression, Moscow has repeatedly threatened to destroy western arms supplies to Ukraine. In the debate about the delivery of “Leopard” main battle tanks to Kyiv, Russia warned that this would take the war to a new level. According to the Moscow news agency Interfax, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Western weapons would be destroyed by Moscow’s troops.
In addition, the nuclear power plants in Ukraine have been in focus since the beginning of the war. Russian troops took control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant – the largest in Europe – early on. The area was repeatedly shelled, for which the warring parties held each other responsible. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly warned of the risk of a nuclear catastrophe.