Russia signals readiness to evacuate staff from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant if needed

Russia is prepared to evacuate its personnel from Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant if the security situation deteriorates, Director General of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) Alexey Likhachev said on Thursday, as regional tensions surrounding Iran continue to escalate, Azernews reports.

Speaking to Russian state media, Likhachev stressed that Moscow still hopes all parties will respect international commitments regarding the safety of nuclear facilities. “We hope that the parties to the conflict will maintain their commitments regarding the inviolability of the Bushehr nuclear power plant,” he said. At the same time, he underlined that contingency planning is already underway.

“As they say, we are keeping our finger on the pulse. In cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, we will be ready to carry out evacuation measures if necessary,” Likhachev noted, according to TASS.

Despite the heightened rhetoric and military activity around Iran, Likhachev described Bushehr, located near Iran’s southern port city on the Persian Gulf, as “the safest place in Iran” during the US and Israeli strikes carried out in the summer of 2025. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally raised the issue of the plant’s safety and the protection of Russian specialists in direct discussions with both US and Israeli officials.

The Rosatom chief also warned against potential restrictions on Russian nuclear fuel exports, arguing that such measures would have serious consequences for Europe. According to him, a ban on Russian nuclear fuel purchases would “jeopardize” nuclear safety across the continent and undermine the economic performance of Europe’s nuclear energy sector. He said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shares these concerns, expressing hope that “common sense will prevail over the desire to increase the number of anti-Russian sanctions.”

Tensions around Iran intensified last June after Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear facilities, followed by retaliatory actions from Tehran. The United States later joined the escalation by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites. At the height of those developments, Likhachev warned that any strike on the Bushehr plant could result in a catastrophe “comparable” to the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Against the backdrop of renewed US warnings to Tehran, Israeli security preparations, and growing speculation about possible further strikes, Moscow’s comments on Bushehr underline both Russia’s concern over nuclear safety and its attempt to position itself as a key stakeholder in preventing a wider regional disaster.