live blog
Status: 18.11.2022 07:00 a.m
The International Atomic Energy Agency has asked Russia to pull out of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. CDU politician Schäuble admits past mistakes in dealing with Russia. The developments in the live blog.
07:00 a.m
Schäuble on Russia: “We didn’t want to see it”
Former Bundestag President and ex-Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has admitted past mistakes in dealing with Russia. When asked if he was angry with himself, the CDU politician told the “Handelsblatt”: “Of course, we didn’t want to see it, that applies to everyone.”
During his time as interior minister, he spoke to his Russian counterpart about how we could fight Islamist terror together. “I could have looked at what Russia was doing in Chechnya. Or listened to the then Polish President Lech Kaczynski.” After Russia’s attack on Georgia, he warned: “Georgia comes first, then Ukraine, then Moldova, then the Baltic states and then Poland. He was right,” said Schäuble.
07:00 a.m
IAEA demands Russian withdrawal from Zaporizhia nuclear plant
The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has ordered Russia to withdraw from the occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia. Moscow should withdraw its military and civilian personnel immediately and give up its “unfounded claim to ownership” of the nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine, according to a resolution passed by the body on Thursday evening.
Zaporizhia NPP Ukraine
The Board of Governors was also extremely concerned that Ukrainian employees at the plant were being pressured by the Russian side and that arrests had also been made. It is the third IAEA resolution against Russia since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. According to diplomats, it was supported by 24 countries – China and Russia voted against. Seven countries abstained, including Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, has been under Russian occupation since March and has been under repeated fire ever since. Negotiations between IAEA chief Rafael Grossi and Kyiv and Russia about a ceasefire zone around the nuclear power plant have so far been unsuccessful.