In an interview with Ukrinform, the IAEA Director General explained that his organisation cannot impose any sanctions against other countries or companies, and has no say in the matter of sanctions in any way. Also, when assessing the need for sanctions against Rosatom, Rafael Grossi only noted that this would have bad consequences for nuclear safety, but did not make any statements that he or the IAEA in general opposed sanctions against Rosatom.

The Kremlin media have been widely spreading information that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi allegedly opposed sanctions against Rosatom.

Russian propaganda is actively working with the topic of sanctions, trying to prove that in fact, no one benefits from the imposition of sanctions against Russia and Russian business. That is why the heads of various countries and organisations are allegedly regularly fighting for the lifting of sanctions, which, according to the Kremlin, only harm Western countries themselves. However, such an active reaction of the propaganda to the introduction of new sanctions is quite telling and shows that the restrictions do harm the Russian economy and individual figures responsible for waging war against Ukraine.

As in other similar cases, the propaganda distorted the meaning of what Rafael Grossi said, attributing to him what he did not say.

For example, in an interview with the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform, the IAEA Director General, when asked what he thought about sanctions against Rosatom, said the following:

«The IAEA does not have any mandate on sanctions, not even on nuclear or any other. We don’t have a capacity or a voice in that. But I would repeat what I said. What I see is that Rosatom is a company that is very present in many countries around the world. So perhaps even sanctioning Rosatom could have bad consequences in terms of nuclear safety or security, because they are providing fuel and services in many countries. As you know, they are, like it or not, the world’s number one vendor of nuclear reactors. They export to many countries. They are building nuclear power plants in many countries. So it is not easy for these clients to disengage. This is why these countries are not asking for sanctions. Maybe they are condemning Russia politically, but when it comes to the nuclear industry, they are not asking for sanctions because they need their reactors for their own economy.»

Thus, Grossi did not state anywhere in his speech that he opposed sanctions against this company, but explained that the imposition of sanctions against it could have bad consequences in terms of nuclear safety. In addition, the head of the IAEA stressed that his organisation cannot impose any sanctions on other countries or companies, and has no right to vote on sanctions in principle.
StopFake has previously refuted other fakes related to the topic of sanctions. For example, Fake: New Western Sanctions Against Russia Are Illegitimate, Fake: Finnish Economy is Collapsing Due to Sanctions and NATO, Fake: Anti-Russian Sanctions Destroyed Ukraine’s Economy.