Russia will ask US and Israel to cease fire while it evacuates staff from Iranian nuclear plant, RIA reports

AL-Monitor
Apr 2, 2026
Director General of Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 25, 2026. Maxim Shipenkov/Pool via REUTERS
Director General of Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 25, 2026. Maxim Shipenkov/Pool via REUTERS — Maxim Shipenkov

MOSCOW, April 2 (Reuters) - Russia will ask the United States and Israel to ensure a ceasefire while it evacuates more Russian staff from the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, RIA news agency reported on Thursday.

"The travel routes will be communicated to the relevant authorities in Israel and the United States, and we will use all channels to request strict adherence to the ceasefire during the convoy’s movement," the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, was quoted by RIA as saying.

Likhachev said that a "final wave of evacuation" involving about 200 people is tentatively scheduled for next week. Russia built the Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr and Rosatom staff are working there on construction of additional units.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)