Switzerland demands the expulsion of the Russian UN nuclear official
Switzerland has asked the UN nuclear regulator to contain a senior Russian official on Russia-Ukraine affairs to ensure the organization’s independence after Moscow invaded the neighboring state.
Swiss newspaper 24 heures reported that Federal Energy Councilor Simonetta Sommaruga had written to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi to demand a reduction in the responsibilities of Deputy Director General Mikhail Chudakov.
Chudakov has long held a board position at a subsidiary of Rosatom, a public company involved in the Russian army’s occupation of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhia, the newspaper added.
According to 24 heures, Sommaruga demanded that the Russian be barred from matters related to Russia and Ukraine and no longer receive confidential information.
The Federal Office of Energy confirmed that Sommaruga wrote these demands to Grossi on April 1.
“For Switzerland, the independence and credibility of the IAEA and trust in its work are important,” a ministry spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Rosatom provides officers to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops, and Chudakov’s past played a role in Sommaruga’s action, 24 heures reported.
Switzerland has an interest in safety information being exchanged between the Ukrainian nuclear authority, the Ukrainian government and the IAEA “in a spirit of trust and without the possibility of political influence,” Sommaruga added in her letter.
The environmental organization Greenpeace had called for the complete exclusion of Chudakov, who has been head of the IAEA’s nuclear energy department since 2015.
IAEA staff are instructed not to obey the orders of national governments or external authorities in their mission to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.
The IAEA passed a resolution in March calling on Russia to immediately end its actions against Ukrainian nuclear facilities.
The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP, but 24 heures reported that the agency saw no reason to comply with Switzerland’s demands.