© Erik Romanenko/TASS

Top stories from the Russian press on Friday, June 16th, prepared by TASS

IAEA chief pays third visit to Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant; the West is still waiting for the Ukrainian counteroffensive to score a win; and Algeria and Russia ink several bilateral agreements. These stories topped Friday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

Media: What IAEA director saw at Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant

On June 15, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), visited the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) for the third time. Previously, an IAEA delegation visited the nuclear facility in September and March. This time, Grossi inspected the damaged elements of the power plant’s cooling system, the sluice gates that separate the cooling pond from the drying up Kakhovka Reservoir, and shrapnel from a US-made M777 howitzer. The IAEA head acknowledged that the situation was serious but that the plant’s staff had taken measures to stabilize it.

The IAEA lacks the necessary political will to have any influence over the regular bombardment of the ZNPP, Sergey Ordzhonikidze, former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and former UN Deputy Secretary General, told Izvestia.

"Western countries predominate on the IAEA Board of Governors, the agency’s main executive body, and they are calling the shots. The IAEA director general, just like the secretary general of any international organization, has to do the bidding of member states, as represented by their governors. So, in this sense, Grossi, much like the UN secretary general, for example, is not a figure with full political independence," the veteran diplomat said.

In his opinion, it would be unfair to unequivocally assert that the IAEA is "playing on the Western side, but it is playing along, that’s for sure." "One shouldn’t think that Grossi is impartial. Maybe, some technical things are being done there, but in a political sense, the Ukrainians continue to shell the power station just as before. The power plant is not getting safer because of [Grossi’s] visits," Ordzhonikidze said. He noted that only the US could make the Kiev regime stop the bombardments of the nuclear facility, but he believes that Washington is well aware of Ukraine’s actions.

Nuclear energy expert Valentin Gibalov told Vedomosti that it was impossible to relaunch the nuclear power plant without revamping its cooling system or restoring the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the reservoir. Any of these options would take a long time to carry out, so the ZNPP’s status is up in the air because, de facto, it cannot produce energy in a regular mode, the expert explained.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: West still expecting Kiev to pull off game-changing counteroffensive

Once the rainy weather in the special operation zone clears up, the Ukrainian armed forces are, by all appearances, ready to continue offensive actions more intensively. According to expert assessments, Kiev’s main reserve units, numbering up to nine brigades or almost 50,000 soldiers, armed with Western-made tanks and armor, have not yet been engaged in combat. The direction of Kiev’s main strike is still unclear.

"It is hard to comprehend Kiev’s offensive ambitions when it virtually lacks combat aviation," a military expert, retired Colonel Vladimir Popov, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. He is concerned because, on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg officially announced the launch of an initiative to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. A day earlier, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said that her country was going to begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets in the coming months. A statement by the Dutch Defense Ministry said that, currently, the Netherlands and its partners were working on creating an F-16 training center in one of NATO’s Eastern European member states.

Earlier, the Ritzau news agency reported that Denmark was planning to begin training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s in August. The Netherlands and Denmark are taking the lead in the North Atlantic Alliance’s aviation coalition to train Ukrainian fighter pilots.

"I don’t think that NATO will be able to teach Ukrainian pilots the skills necessary to operate American fighter jets quickly," the expert said. "This will take time. And, possibly, at first, the F-16s will be piloted by mercenaries. Yet, the very fact that the US and NATO leadership are ready to provide the Ukrainian army with modern combat aviation shows that they have no intention of ending the conflict and sitting down at the negotiation table, but rather are going to continue waging a hybrid war against Russia by means of the Ukrainian armed forces and their sacrifice in casualties," he concluded.

Izvestia: What Russian, Algerian presidents agreed on

Russia’s relations with Algeria carry a special significance and are strategic in nature, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in the Kremlin on June 15. The Algerian leader noted that Russia’s support, including arms supplies to the North African republic, allows his country to remain independent, asserting that no external pressure could influence Algiers’ bilateral ties with Moscow. In all, nine documents have been signed during the talks, including a declaration on an expanded strategic partnership. Additionally, the situation in Ukraine was discussed. Putin thanked his Algerian counterpart for his readiness to provide mediation services and imparted to him Russia’s perspective on the causes of the conflict.

Several African countries have put forward a joint mediation proposal on Ukraine and their delegation is scheduled to visit Kiev and Moscow this week as part of the initiative, but Algeria is not a party to it, Vsevolod Sviridov, an expert at the Higher School of Economics’ Center for African Studies (CAS), told Izvestia. That said, the Algerian side had asserted its readiness to serve as a mediator as early as last year.

"Algeria has mediation experience in regional conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. Right now, for example, it is participating in efforts toward reaching settlements in Libya and in the Sahara-Sahel region," the expert pointed out.

According to him, it is not very likely that Algeria, or the delegation of mediators from African nations slated to arrive in St. Petersburg on June 17, would succeed in achieving any breakthroughs on the issue of Ukraine, but it is conceivable that their trips may produce separate initiatives on food or energy security.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: West’s own actions led to breakdown of sanctions mechanism

The never-ending expansion of sanctions against various countries, companies and individuals has already resulted in the devaluation of such economic restrictions. By now, almost every fourth country worldwide is under some sort of sanctions. In all, nearly one-third of global GDP has been sanctioned, which has rendered trade restrictions ineffective or simply senseless. Newly sanctioned countries quickly find new partners, while those countries that imposed sanctions end up paying for them at the expense of their own economic growth, economists point out.

Western experts’ calculations with regard to sanctions regimes paint a rather grim picture for the initiators and participants of the sanctions track. "On a global scale, it turns out that the sanctions rally ends up having results that are completely unexpected for its cheerleaders. Sanctioned countries are actively working on new ways of interacting [with trade partners] and mutual support, while striving to diminish the adverse impact of restrictions on national economies as much as possible. It suddenly turned out that many ‘neutral’ countries are readily providing services for ‘bypassing’ sanctions blockades, or else are giving some serious thought to the fairness and appropriateness of sanctions policies. Who can guarantee that tomorrow sanctions won’t be directed against any other country? Given this, more and more countries have become interested in new economic structures, for instance, BRICS," says Maxim Maksimov, associate professor at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

A study held in the past century showed that out of 115 instances of sanctions, only 5% of them achieved the desired result, Yuliya Burkhanova, an expert at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), reiterated. "A review of all US sanctions since 1970 has shown that sanctioned countries changed their attitude in favor of the US only in 13% of cases. North Korea continues to test nuclear weapons. The same regime is in power in Cuba as 60 years ago. In 2022, the US Department of the Treasury relaxed sanctions against Venezuela and even allowed oil production there," she noted. Frequently, the sanctions turn into an ineffective leverage tool, additionally having a negative effect on the economy of the very country that imposed them.

Maksimov adds that, nevertheless, the recent history of sanctions against North Korea, Iraq, Libya, Syria or Iran shows that, overall, sanctions are capable of substantially reducing the growth potential of national economies and slowing down technological development.

Izvestia: Why Pristina needs another round of escalation in Kosovo

Under present conditions, there seem to be no prospects for settling the Kosovo conflict via dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, the Russian Embassy in Serbia told Izvestia. Following the flare-up in May, tensions in the region are running high again: Pristina banned entry to vehicles with Serbian number plates and the import of goods from the country’s central part in response to Belgrade’s arrest of three Kosovo police officers.

Continued provocative actions by Kosovo indicate Pristina’s lack of interest in a peaceful settlement, while Serbia, on the contrary, wants to establish stable relations with the autonomous region; however, even within the negotiation process, Belgrade will never recognize the independence of Kosovo.

According to Milan Lazovic, program coordinator at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), despite the fact that the current stage of the Kosovo conflict has been underway since 2008, one gets the impression that Pristina is not interested in a peaceful settlement. One sign of this, in particular, is its foot-dragging on creating the Community of Serb Municipalities stipulated by the 2013 Brussels Agreement.

That said, Serbia aspires for a peaceful resolution of the prolonged conflict, says Nenad Popovic, member of Serbia’s National Assembly and founder of the Serbian People’s Party. "We would like to peacefully maintain stable, long-term and predictable relations with our southern region. Although, it seems to me that it will be very hard with [Kosovar Prime Minister Albin] Kurti in power in Pristina. If his handlers really want peace in the Balkans, they will have to remove him from power," the legislator noted.

However, according to Lazovic, any actual settlement will only be possible with more substantial involvement by the West, which should adopt a tougher stance toward the Kosovar authorities and prevent Pristina from carrying out provocative actions. Additionally, it should not set forth patently non-feasible demands for Belgrade, such as the official recognition of Kosovo and the approval of its UN membership, the expert concluded.