Russia warns of Ukraine ‘dirty bomb’ provocation as fears of escalation, false flag attacks mount

Russia’s defense chief on Sunday alleged that Ukraine was preparing a “provocation” involving a radioactive device, a stark claim that was strongly rejected by Ukrainian and British officials amid soaring tensions as Moscow struggles to stem Ukrainian advances in the south. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the allegations in phone calls with his counterparts from Britain, France and Turkey. He also spoke to U.

S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in their second call in three days, but a terse Russian readout of that call didn’t say whether the dirty bomb claim was mentioned. Russia’s defense ministry said Shoigu voiced concern about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb,’” a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste.

It doesn’t have the devastating effect of a nuclear explosion, but it could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination. A dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with radioactive material, serving primarily as an area denial device against civilians.

It is, however, not to be confused with a nuclear explosion, such as a fission bomb, which by releasing nuclear energy produces blast effects far in excess of what is achievable by the use of conventional explosives. Since a dirty bomb is unlikely to cause many deaths by radiation exposure, many do not consider this to be a weapon of mass destruction. Its purpose would presumably be to create psychological, not physical, harm through ignorance, mass panic, and terror.

For this reason, dirty bombs are sometimes called “weapons of mass disruption”. Additionally, containment and decontamination of thousands of victims, as well as decontamination of the affected area might require considerable time and expense, rendering areas partly unusable and causing economic damage. Russian authorities repeatedly have made allegations that Ukraine could detonate a dirty bomb in a false flag attack and blame it on Moscow.

Ukrainian authorities, in turn, have accused the Kremlin of hatching such a plan. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace strongly rejected Shoigu’s claim and warned Moscow against using it as a pretext for escalation. The British Ministry of Defense noted that Shoigu in a call with Wallace “alleged that Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

” “The Defense Secretary refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation,” the ministry said. “The Defense Secretary also reiterated UK and wider international support for Ukraine and desire to de-escalate this conflict. ” Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also dismissed Shoigu’s claims as an “absolute and quite predictable absurdity from those who believe that they blatantly lie and make people believe in that.

” The country’s top diplomat, Dmytro Kuleba, said his country had neither dirty bombs nor plans to acquire them. The French Ministry of the Armed Forces said that Shoigu told his counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, that the situation in Ukraine was rapidly worsening and “trending towards uncontrollable escalation. ” The mention of the dirty bomb threat in Shoigu’s calls with his counterparts seemed to indicate the threat of such an attack has risen to an unprecedented level.

“It appears that there is a shared feeling that the tensions have approached the level that could raise the real threat for all,” Fyodor Lukyanov, the Kremlin-connected head of the Council for Foreign and Defense policies, a Moscow-based group of top foreign affairs experts, said in a commentary on Shoigu’s phone calls. .