DISINFO: Kyiv will detonate a “dirty bomb” to accuse Russia
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: lantidiplomatico.it (archived)*
  • Date of publication: October 24, 2022
  • Article language(s): Italian
  • Reported in: Issue 314
  • Countries / regions discussed: Ukraine, Russia
Tags:
false flag Chemical weapons/attack War in Ukraine Invasion of Ukraine war crimes

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".

Read similar cases claiming that Kyiv prepares chemical attacks to blame the Russian army, Ukraine is under control of the West and staged fakes about Bucha, Mariupol and Kramatorsk, West needs provocations to accuse the Russian military of using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons in Ukraine and that Ukraine aims to use Turkish Bayraktars for chemical attacks

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Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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