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full screen Former top diplomat Hans Blix, 96. File photo from June. Photo: Fredrik Persson/TT
Russian President Vladimir Putin is “very rational” and will not do anything to risk a disaster at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
This is claimed by the Swedish former top diplomat and nuclear weapons inspector Hans Blix in an interview with the AFP news agency.
– He knows what he is doing, says Blix to AFP.
At the same time, concern is increasing in the West and Ukraine about what might happen to the nuclear power plant, which Russia controls after the invasion of Ukraine.
Blix was head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1981 to 1987 and, before the Gulf War, determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
And before the 2003 Iraq War, he led inspectors to investigate whether Iraq’s ruler Saddam Hussein had such weapons, but they found no evidence. The US and the allies behind the invasion claimed the opposite.
Russian mistake
He described that invasion as a big American mistake. He also believes that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is.
– Putin knows he made a mistake and I’m sure he regrets it, says Blix.
The other week, the IAEA warned that security at Zaporizhzhya has deteriorated as a result of a drone attack nearby. Both sides have accused each other of compromising security at the facility.
Not consciously
Blix does not believe, he says, that Russia would deliberately attack the plant.
– It would surprise me very much if Russia has not told its forces to refrain from things that can cause great damage.
And about unspoken or indirect threats to use nuclear weapons in war, Blix says:
– He rattles them and threatens, but he is no fool.