Russia says UN watchdog must be 'more objective' after trip to nuclear plant near fighting

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday it wanted the International Atomic Energy Agency to take a "more objective and clearer" stance on nuclear safety, a day after the agency head visited a Russian nuclear plant near where Ukraine has mounted an incursion into the country.

Separately, Russia said its forces had defused unexploded U.S.-supplied munitions fired by Ukraine that were shot down just 5 km (3 miles) from the Kursk nuclear plant.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi toured the Kursk facility on Tuesday and warned of the danger of a serious nuclear accident there. He said he had inspected damage from a drone strike last week, which Russia had blamed on Ukraine, but did not say who was responsible.

Russian state news agency RIA quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying in a radio interview that Moscow wanted the IAEA to speak out more clearly on issues of nuclear security, although she denied it was demanding that the agency take a pro-Russian line.

"We see both the assessments and the work of this structure (the IAEA), but each time we want a more objective and clearer expression of the position of this structure," Zakharova said.

"Not in favour of our country, not in favour of confirming Moscow's position, but in favour of facts with one specific goal: ensuring safety and preventing the development of a scenario along a catastrophic path, to which the Kyiv regime is pushing everyone."

The IAEA could not immediately be reached for comment.

Zakharova's words were indicative of increasing pressure from Moscow on the IAEA, which throughout the 30-month war has urged both sides to refrain from fighting around nuclear plants in order to avoid a catastrophic incident.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that although the IAEA did not have a mandate to assign blame, there was no question about "the guilt of the Ukrainian side in escalating the nuclear danger".

Ukraine has not responded to Russian accusations that it attacked the plant near where its forces launched a surprise incursion on Aug. 6 that Russia is still trying to repel. There has been fighting about 40 km (25 miles) from the facility.

Russia's National Guard said in a statement on Wednesday that its sappers had found a shell from a U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple launch rocket system 5 km from the plant, and a rocket fragment which it said was stuffed with 180 unexploded munitions.

A video it published of the find showed two soldiers inspecting fragments of the rocket which they said had been shot down by Russian air defences and had partially exploded in the air.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the purported Russian find, and Reuters could not independently verify the location of the video.

Grossi said during his visit that the plant, built to a Soviet design, was especially vulnerable because - unlike most modern nuclear power stations - it lacked a containment dome that might offer protection in the event of a strike by drones, missiles or artillery.

Asked by a reporter at a news conference to condemn the drone damage as a "nuclear provocation" by Ukraine, Grossi replied: "Again, pointing fingers is something that I, as director general of the IAEA, must take extremely seriously. But it is obvious that you cannot separate what we have seen here from the recent military activity that we have seen."

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Hugh Lawson)