The attempt of Paris to distort details of the telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) is peculiar to the Western information campaign, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Radio Sputnik.
On Tuesday, Lavrov and Colonna discussed the possibility of sending a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The Russian foreign minister urged Paris to prompt Kyiv to stop carrying out strikes against the facility so that IAEA representatives could visit it. However, France and Western media made it appear as if Colonna pushed Lavrov into consenting to an IAEA inspection, even though Moscow gave its consent back on June 3.
"A telephone conversation between the Russian and French foreign ministers has taken place. The initiator was France. The parties published press releases, and reports on the conversation, after which we had to issue a second statement about the telephone conversation because the French side distorted its essence. It was presented in such a way that the French side almost pressured, forced Russia to agree to something," Zakharova said, adding "In fact, this is a continuation of a certain tradition that we have already seen more than once."
The spokeswoman also recalled that Moscow had repeatedly urged the international community to visit the Zaporizhzhia NPP. According to Zakharova, Russia was ready to organize the visit on its own, without any foreign assistance.
This is not the first time Lavrov's position is distorted by Western colleagues. In 2021, the Ukrainian settlement and a possible ministerial meeting in the so-called Normandy format, involving France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, were discussed. In connection with media leaks and speculation by Paris and Berlin, the Russian foreign ministry was forced to publish Lavrov's correspondence with French and German colleagues to shed light on the situation.
The Zaporizhzhia NPP has recently been targeted by multiple rocket strikes from Ukraine since going under Russian control, prompting fears of a possible nuclear accident. The IAEA, supported by the United Nations, is seeking to send a team to inspect the facility. However, the parties find it hard to reach an agreement on how the mission will get to the area -- either through Kyiv-controlled territory or through Crimea. (ANI/Sputnik)
( With inputs from ANI )
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