The press bureau of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported that Western countries allegedly plan to place responsibility for a potential accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Moscow. According to the agency, NATO allies are pressuring the Kiev authorities to urgently shift Western public opinion regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The SVR stated that as one of the «most effective» ways to achieve this goal, Western strategists are reportedly considering a large-scale provocation that could result in casualties among Ukrainians and citizens of EU countries — an incident comparable, they said, to the 2014 tragedy involving Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

The agency further claimed that the West is examining the possibility of an operation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that could lead to a meltdown of the reactor core. The SVR referred to assessments by the British think tank Chatham House, which, according to the report, has already modeled the potential consequences of such an event. The computer simulation suggested that, depending on wind direction and air currents, radioactive contamination could spread not only over areas controlled by Kiev but also into parts of the European Union near Ukraine’s western borders.