Moscow Affirms Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Remains In Russian Control

PLTN Zaporizhia. (Wikimedia Commons/DENAMAX)

JAKARTA - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (PLTN) was a Russian facility and its transfer of control to Ukraine or any other country was impossible.

The ministry also said operating the plant together was unacceptable because it was impossible to ensure the station's physical and nuclear safety properly.

It said the Zaporizhzhia region, which is partly controlled by Russian forces, was one of four regions in Ukraine that Russia had annexed based on a referendum held seven months after Moscow's massive invasion of neighboring countries and a presidential decree formally made the station Russian.

Western countries have rejected the referendum as a hoax.

"The return of the plant to Russia's nuclear sector has become a long-standing reality," the ministry said in a statement.

"The transfer of the Zaporizhzhia plant to control of Ukraine or other countries is impossible," he said.

It is known that Russian troops seized the station at the start of the invasion and each side has since routinely accused others of launching a safety-threatening attack on the plant, which is Europe's largest PLTN with six reactors.

Although the PLTN now does not produce electricity, the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) has placed monitors there, as is done in all locations of Ukraine's nuclear power plants.

Ukraine demands the return of the station to its jurisdiction and refuses to annex its territory by 2022 as an illegal act.

United States President Donald Trump, during this month's telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, suggested the United States could help run and possibly have Ukraine's nuclear power plant.

President Zelensky said the plant belonged to the Ukrainian people. He said he and Trump had discussed the potential for US investment in the plant.