Russia reduces personnel at Iranian atomic facility following alleged aerial attack

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File: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL / AFP.

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Russia pulled another group of staff from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Wednesday after what it described as a “reckless” air strike near the plant’s reactor.

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A projectile landed within the plant’s compound on Tuesday night, Iran’s atomic energy organisation said, accusing the United States and Israel of being responsible.

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Russia partially constructed the plant on Iran’s Gulf coast and its technicians help operate it.

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“We are deeply outraged by this reckless and irresponsible manifestation of a destructive course of action,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

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“It appears that the aggressors are deliberately seeking to provoke a large-scale nuclear disaster in the region,” the ministry added.

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Russia’s atomic energy agency announced earlier that it was evacuating staff from the plant for safety reasons.

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“Today, at approximately 7:20 am Moscow time (0420 GMT), 163 people left Bushehr for the Iranian-Armenian border,” Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev was quoted as saying by the state RIA news agency.

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“Right now, about 300 remain… Some people will stay. I think it will be a few dozen people who will oversee the equipment,” he added in comments to reporters, including AFP.

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Rosatom had already withdrawn 150 people working at the plant, amid the threat of US and Israeli airstrikes.

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Before the conflict began, Russia was in the process of building two new reactors at the plant.

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The UN’s nuclear watchdog issued a statement on Tuesday calling for “maximum restraint to avoid nuclear safety risks”.

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AFP

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