Russian media reports that IAEA observers should see that there is no Russian military equipment at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. StopFake writes about it. They refer to the words of Volodymyr Putin who announced this in Vladyvostok. The Russian dictator noted that these divisions of the National Guard of Russia "guard" the perimeter and territory of the station. This is manipulation.

The IAEA report notes just the opposite: that military equipment is present there. In particular, paragraph 39 of the report states: “The team observed the presence of Russian military personnel, vehicles and equipment at various sites of the ZNPP, including several military trucks on the first floor of block 1 and block 2 of the turbine hall, as well as military vehicles under the crossing connecting reactor room.

And the National Guard, according to Russian law, is a military organization. And in Ukraine, this structure fulfills military purposes, in fact, being an occupation structure.

Russian propagandists spread several theses about the visit of a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the alleged plan of the Ukrainian authorities to take control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

First, the pro-Kremlin media noted that on September 01, at dawn, “an unsuccessful assault began.” Allegedly, Ukrainian saboteurs on seven boats and two self-propelled barges tried to disrupt the IAEA mission in Enerhodar, temporarily occupied by Russia. The Russians blocked their landing, the British-trained elite fighters were massacred and the barges were sunk.

According to another version of the Russian Ministry of Defense, specially selected and trained "media representatives" from Ukraine, the United States and Great Britain, in the presence of the IAEA mission, were supposed to inform the world community about the transfer of the station to the control of Kyiv. Therefore, all unauthorized persons, when trying to cross the demarcation line, along with the IAEA motorcade, stopped and were not allowed through.

And it did not happen without accusations of Ukraine in the shelling. They say that the Russian side ensured the arrival of more than 60 journalists from France, the USA, China, Denmark, Japan, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries. In the morning of September 01, they witnessed an attempt to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Ukrainian saboteurs, could see massive artillery shelling by the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and hid in a bomb shelter.

Remember that the IAEA mission headed by its head Rafael Grossi on September 01 visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant being seized by Russia since March 4. 14 experts stayed at ZNPP for two and a half hours. On that day, the Russian army conducted a powerful shelling of the corridor through which the IAEA mission was supposed to follow from Zaporizhzhia to the nuclear power plant, so the experts traveled quite a long time.

The Russians did not allow independent Ukrainian and Western journalists to enter the ZNPP. As President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said, despite the agreements with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi, the IAEA mission arrived at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant without journalists, there were only propagandists from Russia. Enerhoatom confirmed that “the overwhelming majority of “media from all over the world” who arrived at the plant on September 01 were Russian propagandists.”

Such a statement is spread by pro-Kremlin channels against the backdrop of ongoing events on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant seized by the Russian military. Propagandists claim that NATO intends to use the tense situation at the nuclear power plant in order to fully enter the war with Russia. They draw such conclusions on the basis of a statement by British MP Tobias Ellwood. However, this is manipulation.

According to EU vs Disinfo analysts, in August Tobias Ellwood, a member of the UK Parliament, did speak out about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He stated that due to radiation leakage there is a real threat to life, therefore Article 5 of the Atlantic Treaty, which provides for joint defense in the event of a military threat, will automatically come into force. Russian propaganda uses this very warning as confirmation of the war with NATO.

However, in the context of the politician’s statement, it is clear that any deliberate actions by Russia that will lead to the spread of radiation in NATO countries should be considered an attack on them and encouraged to common defense, as, in fact, this is provided for in Article 5 of the Atlantic Treaty. That is why NATO is not going to enter the war, but will defend itself in case of a possible threat. That is, the words of the British official concerned the defense of NATO member countries.

Such messages are spread by pro-Russian propagandists, including Anatoliy Shariy. His reports say that the entire radiation cloud will go to the West: Poland will get the most of it and generally Western Europe will suffer, but not Moscow at all. However, this is only a concealment of the true facts.

According to Enehoatom, as of July 29, 2022, in the event of a severe accident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, a radiation cloud will cover part of the south of Ukraine and the southwestern regions of Russia in accordance with the wind rose. Everything will depend on the direction of the wind, however, Russia is close to the ZNPP, which means it is unlikely that it will not suffer at all. So there is such a possibility.

Propagandists are spreading this news to promote the message that the war in Ukraine will not affect Russia in any way. Allegedly, Ukraine itself and its partners will suffer.

This is not the first time that Russian propagandists have been spreading this thesis, trying to accuse Ukraine of destabilizing the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. In particular, the propagandists claim that the Ukrainian military themselves are shelling nuclear power plants; they argue that it is not beneficial for Russia to shell the station, which it itself controls; they assure that they do not harm the facility, but on the contrary, they save it from an abandoned condition, to which Ukraine allegedly brought the station.

In fact, the ongoing shelling at nuclear power plants really poses a nuclear threat. This has been repeatedly mentioned by IAEA experts. However, it is not Ukraine, but Russia that is responsible for the regular shelling of the ZNPP and all the threats arising from them. It was Russia that started the war in Ukraine and illegally seized a strategic facility.

According to the fact-checker VoxCheck, the ZNPP territory was shelled on August 5 and 6, and on other days, and it is Russia that is to blame for all the shelling. According to Enerhoatom, on August 5, the Russians fired at the ZNPP territory twice with the help of MLRS. As a result of attacks on one of the power units, emergency protection worked, so one of the three active power units was turned off. The invaders also damaged the nitrogen-oxygen station and the joint auxiliary building. On August 6, Russian troops were hit by a rocket at the ZNPP site right next to the station's dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Due to shelling, three radiation monitoring sensors around this site were damaged. One station worker was injured. On August 11, Enerhoatom published an analysis of the video on propaganda telegram channels, which proves that on August 6, it was Russian troops who were shelling the ZNPP, approximately from the industrial zone located between the nuclear power plant and Enerhodar.

This message is spreading in pro-Russian anonymous telegram channels.

To promote the message, they use quotes from a Russian scientist who believes that in order for the West to stop providing weapons to Ukraine, Russia must demonstrate “nuclear power and nuclear deterrence.” The main attention supposedly should be given to intimidation of states that have common borders with Russia - Poland, the Baltic countries, Romania and Bulgaria. According to the Russians, "the fear of a devastating nuclear retaliation must be constantly present in the opinions of the leaders of NATO states." Propagandists justify the use of brute force as a determining factor in international relations.

Russian propaganda systematically accuses Ukraine of striking the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. At the same time, the "commander" of the occupying garrison of the nuclear power plant, Russian General Vasiliev, threatened that "the station will be either Russian or nobody" and "there will be either Russian free land or scorched earth".

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry said this at the UN conference. Allegedly, as a result of such actions against Russia, the situation in world strategic stability is rapidly deteriorating.