🇷🇺 Statement by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov under Agenda Item 23 of the 70th Session of the IAEA General Conference «Prohibition of All Forms of Attacks and Threats of Attack Against Nuclear Sites and Facilities under IAEA Safeguards and Devoted to Peaceful Purposes»

📍Vienna, 17 September 2026

💬 Last year, we met for the first time to discuss this agenda item, which had been placed before the General Conference at Iran’s initiative. This took place against the backdrop of the unprovoked, unjustified and unlawful aggression carried out by Israel and the United States in June 2025 against Iranian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.

Let us recall the main consequences of this reckless and egregious military adventure. Nuclear infrastructure facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran were destroyed — facilities that had been subject to regular Agency monitoring, where IAEA inspectors worked on a daily basis, and where no concerns had arisen regarding the non-diversion of nuclear material to unauthorized purposes. All the difficulties encountered in implementing safeguards in Iran, which persist to this day, are the result of the unlawful use of force by the United States and Israel. It was this action that dealt a devastating blow to the entire international non-proliferation regime, with the NPT at its core, as well as to the Agency’s safeguards system and the IAEA’s ability to perform its statutory functions. There can be no question of shifting responsibility from the perpetrators of aggression onto its victim.

Yet, more than a year later, we are compelled to acknowledge an extremely alarming and dangerous reality. Just a few years ago, the systematic targeting of nuclear facilities and the use of such attacks as a genuine instrument of warfare would have seemed unthinkable. Unfortunately, we are now witnessing a new reality, characterized by the normalization of attacks on nuclear facilities and their use as targets of military strikes.

In addition to the extensive list of nuclear energy infrastructure facilities in Iran that were struck in June 2025, the past year has seen the sad list grow to include the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran and the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates. And this is without even mentioning the systematic attacks against the Russian ZNPP and its satellite city of Energodar by Ukraine over recent years, with the tacit acquiescence of its Western allies. In 2026, Ukrainian attacks on the ZNPP have not merely become more frequent; they have acquired a regular character. Their consequences have repeatedly been documented by IAEA experts present at the plant.

45 years ago, Israel’s first-ever attack against a nuclear facility in Iraq shocked the international community. It opened a Pandora’s box. Today, we have reached the point where we discuss such matters almost as a routine issue. Russia warned that unless IAEA Member States and the Agency’s leadership found the resolve to collectively and unequivocally condemn attacks against nuclear facilities, wherever and whenever they occur, such attacks would become the new normal. It appears that this is precisely what is happening.

🔗 Read in full