Russia's Deputy Foreign Min says Russian military control of Zaporizhzhia plant guarantees no 'Chernobyl scenario'

FILE PHOTO: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends a meeting of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Moscow, Russia, March 15, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool/File Photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday that Russia's military presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is a guarantee against what he called a "Chernobyl scenario", referring to the 1986 nuclear catastrophe.

Yesterday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechaev said that a U.N. proposal to demilitarise the area around the nuclear plant was "unacceptable".