DISINFO: Kyiv will detonate a “dirty bomb” to accuse Russia
SUMMARY
Kyiv will detonate a dirty bomb, or radiological weapon to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine and thus launch a powerful anti-Russian campaign around the world aimed at undermining trust in Moscow.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about false flag operations and chemical weapons attacks. Such claims are a part of a broader pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign accompanying the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, trying to place the blame for the war's atrocities on Ukraine.
Moscow has a history of falsely accusing its opponents of staging "provocations" which either never happened at all or were subsequently carried out by themselves or their allies. In the weeks leading up to Russia#s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow repeatedly falsely claimed that Ukraine, assisted by US or Western forces, prepared a chemical attack or attacks on industry sites storing chemical agents.
There is no evidence to back the claim that Ukraine is preparing a dirty bomb. Оn the contrary, diplomats from France, Britain and the United States called Russia’s allegation a pretext that Moscow has concocted for escalating the war.
In the statement, the governments of France, UK and US confirmed that their Defence Ministers had each spoken with the Russian Defence Minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, and rejected “Russia’s transparently false allegations” about a dirty bomb.
“The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation,” the statement said.
A dirty bomb uses traditional explosives to spray radioactive material. Russia has not publicly offered evidence to back up the accusations and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called the statements “lies.”
NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned Russia over its "false" claim that Kyiv might use a "dirty bomb" - conventional explosives laced with radioactive material.
Stoltenberg tweeted that the NATO allies "reject this allegation" and "Russia must not use it as a pretext for escalation".
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