The International Atomic Energy Agency (the IAEA) should introduce sanctions against the Russian nuclear company “Rosatom”, which provides technical and political cover-up of the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and was involved in the seizure of the Chornobyl NPP in 2022.

This was stated by the Chornobyl NPP Director General Serhii Tarakanov at the briefing with representatives of Greenpeace Ukraine, Greenpeace Germany, other European Greenpeace organizations, as well as journalists from leading Ukrainian and European media outlets who visited the ChNPP industrial site.

“We do not understand why the IAEA remains so calm, why it does not use all the levers of influence that, in our opinion, they have. The Agency works under the auspices of the UN and reports to the General Assembly and the Security Council, and therefore it has both the opportunity and the obligation to introduce sanctions against Rosatom, which provides technical and political cover-up for the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, and also stood in good stead s for the seizure of the Chornobyl NPP in 2022.

Instead, there is an impression that the Agency is ignoring the seriousness of the situation despite the fact that the key principles of nuclear safety have been violated. We are sure that Rosatom must be held accountable as must Russia as a whole,” said Serhii Tarakanov.

According to witnesses, in 2022, when the Chornobyl NPP was occupied by Russian troops, Rosatom advised the Russian army on the facilities operation at the NPP’s industrial site. The military used the information received, in particular, to put psychological pressure on the employees who had been already working under extreme conditions.

Due to the occupation, the ChNPP employees had to work continuously ten times longer than normal, namely for more than 600 hours instead of the scheduled 12 hours. The power plant was seized on the first day of the full-scale Russian assault, on February 24, 2022.

The first rotation of the Chornobyl NPP employees, who were held hostage, took place only three weeks later, namely  on March 20, 2022. 64 people were evacuated, including 50 ChNPP workers, 9 National Guard service members, one rescuer and four so-called "stalkers". Instead, 46 volunteers from among the power plant employees, who agreed to work under occupation conditions, arrived to take their place.

The second rotation took place on April 9, 2022. On that day, 51 more workers returned to Slavutych, including 11 people who had stayed at the site since the occupation start.

The Chornobyl NPP was officially liberated from the Russian occupiers on April 3, 2022, when the command of the AFU Air Assault Forces stated that it took control of a section of the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus.

While leaving the power plant, the occupation forces looted equipment and other property from the enterprises of the Exclusion Zone, including the Chornobyl NPP. Total losses are estimated at $135 million.