Disinfo: Use of depleted uranium shells is a crime against humanity

Summary

The use of such ammunition is a crime against humanity and the planet. Their use is unacceptable and immoral.

Disproof

Part of Kremlin’s disinformation campaign against the supply of depleted uranium to Ukraine. Russia uses this alleged high environmental risk to sabre-rattle with its nuclear arsenal.

The depleted uranium shells UK MoD is sending to Ukraine are not prohibited by any international agreement.

A crime against humanity is traditionally defined and prosecuted by the ICC (murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, mass systematic rape and sexual enslavement in a time of war, other inhumane acts, persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds). The use of depleted uranium shells it cannot be considered as one of the crimes against humanity.

While a new concept of Environmental Crimes Against Humanity is emerging, the ecocide definition reads now as: “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts”.

However, the studies of health and environment consequences of Uranium depleted ammunition don’t establish any effect approaching to this definition. The EU assessment by the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks describes the risks as follow:

DU munitions which hit the ground bury themselves in the soil, where the uranium oxidises and dissolves over years or decades. Over time, the uranium is removed from near the impact site. Total amounts are not high enough to add significantly to the natural uranium background.
Surveys of DU residues from combat zones show generally low concentrations of the metal, within the range of naturally occurring uranium, though there may also be a small number of "hot spots”.
Urine samples from serving soldiers and from civilians living in areas where DU ammunition has been used, typically indicate very low levels of DU exposure.

In 2007, the UN General Assembly launched a study to find out the health effects of depleted uranium weapons. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) found no significant poisoning was caused by exposure to depleted uranium.

Read also related cases: UK delivery of depleted uranium tank shells will lead to a nuclear catastrophe, UK will supply Ukraine with taboo genocidal weapons.

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News Front - German (Archived)
fr.news-front.info (Archived)
news-front.info (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 330
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 28/03/2023
  • Article language(s) German, French, Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, UK
  • Keywords: Nuclear issues, Invasion of Ukraine, ICC, War in Ukraine, war crimes, Protest, Corruption, Volodymyr Zelensky
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Disinfo: UK delivery of depleted uranium tank shells will lead to a nuclear catastrophe

British-Ukrainian plans [to transfer depleted uranium shells to Ukraine] will lead to a nuclear catastrophe.

Mar 27, 2023
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation fearmongering about nuclear weapons. This is a part of a wider disinformation campaign, the ultimate goal of which is to present Ukraine as a threat and therefore justify Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion.

On the 6th March 2023, the UK Government confirmed that:

Disinfo: Anti-war activists arrested for criticising US Secretary of State

Activists were arrested for criticising the US Secretary of State. Several activists who challenged Secretary Blinken during an intervention in the Senate were arrested in Washington, for openly protesting against the war.

Mar 27, 2023
Disproof

This is a distortion of actual events, aiming to promote several long-term pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about censorship and a lack of real democracy in the West.

The group of activists mentioned in this story, called Code Pink, were arrested for loudly disrupting an official event, which is part of their political strategy as they state themselves. They do this in the knowledge that if they stay inside the limits of a peaceful protest, they will be released soon afterwards with no charges, as was the case again here. However, this disinformation story falsely frames this arrest as a reaction to their criticism of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while disingenuously ignoring the actual reason for their actions.

Disinfo: Nuclear weapons in Belarus are justified because of territorial claims of Poland and the Baltic states

There are many good reasons to deploy the Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The growing militarisation of Poland and the UK’s decision to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions are among them. Furthermore, revanchist ideas concerning Russian territories exist in Poland and the Baltic states and Polish authorities have territorial claims towards Belarus.

Mar 27, 2023
Disproof

The article provides false pretexts for stationing Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, attempting to manipulate in the context of nuclear fearmongering.

It contains the “aggressive Poland” and, more broadly, the “anti-Russian West” disinformation narratives. Neither Poland nor the Baltic states have territorial claims towards Belarus or Russia. In contrast, Russia maintains territorial claims towards Ukraine and has violated its territorial integrity.