Russia Warns Against Using IAEA to Settle Scores with Syria - FARS

(FNA)- Russia called for not politicizing and exploiting the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Syria, warning against using the body to settle scores with the Damascus government.

The Russian delegation told the ongoing session of the Board of Governors of the IAEA that there was no reason to keep Syria on the agenda of the Governing Council, official news agency SANA reported on Thursday.

The Russian official stressed the need to focus efforts instead on solving the real issues related to the non-proliferation regime, the report said.

“Member states should leave politicized attempts to exploit inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency for the purpose of settling scores with Damascus. Instead, it is necessary to focus joint efforts on finding solutions to the real issues of the non-proliferation regime and ways to strengthen the safeguards system,” it said.

The Russian delegation affirmed that Damascus had been fulfilling all its commitments under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA), and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The agency “had confirmed several times in recent years that Damascus fulfills its obligations, as inspections are carried out at declared nuclear sites, and there is no evidence that nuclear materials have begun to be used for purposes other than allowed”, it added.

The IAEA in recent years has been investigating US claims that Syria allegedly tried to build a secret nuclear reactor at a remote desert site in Deir Ezzur in 2007, which no longer exists.