Press review: IAEA chief pays visit to Kursk NPP and Kiev looks to get offensive

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. IAEA chief Grossi visits Kursk nuclear power facility, Kiev hopes to use long-range projectiles to deliver strikes on Russian territory, and Ukraine spurns talks with Russia’s Gazprom on gas transit to the EU. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
 
The risk of a nuclear incident has emerged in the Kursk Region, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said following his inspection of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The official cautioned that any external impact on the plant could have serious consequences. Grossi explained that his visit to the Kursk Region was motivated by concern over the proximity of military actions to the nuclear facility. On August 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine attempted to deliver strikes on the NPP and that the IAEA was informed of those incidents.
“Grossi is a representative of an international structure founded by Russia. It is clear that the Americans have an influence over these UN structures,” political analyst Pavel Shipilin told Izvestia. “Undoubtedly, Grossi is also under pressure. As a professional, of course, he cannot tell bald-faced lies but he is also trying to stay on the Americans’ good side. We are expecting objectivity from Grossi, but that may be wishful thinking,” the expert explained.
However, he added that the IAEA delegation cannot deny what’s right in front of them.
“He must be provided with as much information as possible, despite this US pressure. I am sure that our political leadership understands everything and does not expect some incredible revelations from Grossi which would unquestionably demonstrate Ukraine’s guilt. There is no question, however, that Ukraine is at fault both in the case of the Zaporozhye NPP and in Kursk,” the expert added.
The destruction of the Kursk NPP could lead to accusations about Russia improperly handling radioactive waste, potentially leading to the Russian nuclear industry being taken under international control, thinks military expert Viktor Litovkin.
“By their actions, the Ukrainian militants seek to contaminate the area,” he explained. “They want to at least create the threat that they could do this, because while they cannot get to the reactor itself, they can hit the depleted fuel. If there is an explosion, the materials will scatter across the region, carried by the wind. This would be worse than a nuclear bomb because with the bomb everything goes into the atmosphere while here it would stay on the ground. Their secondary goal is a show of force – that they are capable of dealing substantial damage to Russia.
Additionally, the expert suggested that in the event of an accident at the Kursk NPP, Russia may be accused of orchestrating it on its own.
 
As large-scale Russian strikes on Ukraine continue, the Kiev regime is clinging to hope that it will get long-range Western projectiles in order to attack strategic facilities in Russia. Meanwhile, attempts to invade Russian territory in the regions where a counterterrorist regime has been declared also continue. According to Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, on August 27, Ukrainian troops attempted to break through the border in that region but were repelled. The Ukrainian army tried to advance in some areas in the Kursk Region but was thwarted, the Russian Defense Ministry said. That said, according to Forbes, Ukraine, backed by NATO, is going to form new mechanized brigades in Europe.
According to Politico, a delegation of high-ranking Ukrainian officials is going to visit Washington in the near future and yet again ask the US leadership for permission to use American weapons on priority targets in Russia. A number of Western countries, such as the UK, France and the Netherlands, are ready to support the Kiev regime in this matter. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has repeatedly called on all Ukraine’s allies to lift any restrictions on its use of arms.
According to many experts, strikes with Western arms on Russia will escalate the conflict and may lead to a direct clash between Russia and NATO. “And this is precisely what Kiev is trying to achieve,” military analyst Colonel (Ret.) Nikolay Shulgin asserted. He noted a report by the Russian Defense Ministry that Russian servicemen had found thallium nitrate-based toxic substances ready for combat use in a cache in the special military operation zone. “Thus, there is a threat that Ukrainian troops will use chemical weapons against the Russian military and civilians. And I do not rule out that this may happen in the Kursk Region as well,” Shulgin added. According to him, there is a possibility that in addition to Western arms, the Ukrainian army may receive a new precision long-range weapon, such as the Ukrainian-made Palyanitsa drone missile. Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov has already said that Kiev is planning to use this drone, which has a range of up to 700 km, for strikes deep into Russian territory. “This decision does not need to be approved by Kiev’s Western allies, who have prohibited using weapons supplied to hit Russia’s interior,” the Ukrainian official explained.
 
Kiev is not going to extend its agreement with Gazprom on the transit of Russian gas to the European Union after 2024, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky announced at a press conference on August 27. He noted that after the current contract expires, Ukraine will talk with the EU about other options for transiting Russian gas via its territory.
Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, noted that Zelensky’s statement does not reject gas transit outright. He explained that Kiev specifically refuses to talk to Russia but allows for negotiations with representatives from the EU or European companies.
Yushkov added that a non-European company could also serve to facilitate the transit. For example, in July, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned his country’s openness to such a role. Finam analyst Sergey Kaufman thinks that the chances of Azerbaijan serving as an intermediary are slim, but not out of the question.
Kiev’s refusal to negotiate a new transit deal with Russia may have political reasons as well. Zelensky is aiming to escalate the conflict, positioning himself as a “resolute fighter against Russia,” said Ivan Skorikov, head of the Ukraine Department at the Institute of CIS Studies. He explained that not many in Europe will be displeased with the stop of transit because France and Germany have long been receiving gas from other sources while South European countries receive their fuel through the TurkStream.
Skorikov added that the US could come out the biggest winner, as it will be able to offer its LNG to Europe. Kiev’s decisions are often made with an eye toward appeasing Washington, noted Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky, associate professor at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO RAS). What the US wants is for Europe to stop buying Russian gas, and switch over to more expensive American LNG, he concurred.
 
On August 27, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan began his three-day visit to China. Upon arrival, he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also the director of the Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, a position that effectively puts him in charge of the country’s overall foreign policy.
Sullivan’s current visit is strategic, said Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO RAS), Fyodor Voytolovsky. According to him, the goal is to get the Chinese government to warm up to the Democratic leadership and prepare a provisional road map of future interaction. “Biden wants to show the Chinese that they can work more productively with his successor Harris than with the unpredictable Trump,” the expert stressed.
He explained that the Americans could be hoping that such an approach will make talks between the US and China more productive on one or several issues, such as trade, Taiwan and Russia. Then, the Biden administration will present any progress on the Chinese track as effective diplomacy, thus giving Harris a ratings boost.
Despite Biden’s term expiring soon, he may still have a chance to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping one more time, said Yana Leksyutina, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of China and Modern Asia. One of China’s biggest foreign policy goals is to maintain stable relations with the US, because Beijing is aware how strong Washington’s pressure may be. And the meeting between Sullivan and Wang will go a long way in propping up these relations, especially given the absence of any crises at the moment.
 
On Tuesday, August 27, the Elysee Palace planned to hold the second round of consultations between President Emmanuel Macron and party leaders and leading politicians “with experience serving the country and the Republic.” However, representatives from the New Popular Front refused to meet after the president officially ruled out the possibility of a left-wing government, while delegates from La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), the far-left party, said they would appeal to the National Assembly, the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament, to remove Macron as president.
According to Natalya Lapina, head of the Department of Global Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences, the revised Article 68 in the French Constitution provides for the president’s removal from power in the event of high treason, but it has never been used in the entire history of the republic. “The text is quite vague, making it nearly impossible to determine what violations a president must commit in order to be removed from office,” the expert told the newspaper. “Additionally, impeachment proceedings are unlikely to be successful because such a proposal must first be approved separately by both chambers of the parliament and then approved by a two-third majority of all parliament members at a special session of both chambers,” she added.
In these scandalous proposals by La France Insoumise, Lapina sees its leader Jean-Luc Melenchon’s aspiration to humiliate Macron. “The president did not rule out cooperation between the New Popular Front and other political forces but representatives from the ultra-left-wing France Insoumise must not be among them. The irony is that Melenchon was one of the founders of the New Popular Front,” she explained.
Lapina does not rule out the establishment of a technocratic government in France, especially since there is a precedent for this.
“A technocratic government means that neither the prime minister, nor his cabinet may vie for any leading political roles in the future. These are simply qualified specialists who will resolve the country’s pressing issues,” the expert explained.
“The complexity of the current situation is that it is extremely difficult to create any kind of a coalition. All the parties are planning for 2027, so it is extremely disadvantageous for them to devalue themselves in the eyes of voters by aligning with other political forces,” she explained.
TASS is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews