DISINFO: The threat of Ukraine’s dirty bomb is growing
SUMMARY
The threat of Ukraine preparing a dirty bomb to use within its territory as a provocation against Russia is growing despite the international community ignoring the Kremlin’s warnings. Another desperate move from Kyiv, as it is impossible to defeat Moscow.
RESPONSE
This disinformation claim is a repetition of an unsubstantiated allegation by Russian officials, part of a wider pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign. Repeating previous baseless allegations as established facts while introducing minor variations is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation technique.
On October 23, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu phoned the Defence Ministers of four NATO countries: France, Turkiye, Great Britain and the US. Shoigu said that Ukraine was allegedly preparing a "provocation" with the explosion of a "dirty bomb" on its territory. In this statement, the governments of France, the UK and the 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 Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation did not provide any evidence of this, and there is nothing to validate the Russian claim. Pictures presented by the Russian Foreign Ministry to illustrate these allegations were actually from 2010 and originally posted by the Slovenian Radioactive Waste Agency, and therefore totally unrelated to the current situation.
Ukraine asked the IAEA to "immediately send experts to peaceful facilities in Ukraine, which the Russian Federation falsely describes as sites for the development of a 'dirty bomb'." IAEA inspectors found nothing suspicious in the Ukrainian facilities.
Western leaders reject Russia's 'dirty bomb' claim. EU High Representative Josep Borrell dismissed the allegations as false.
“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.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Ukraine is going to use a dirty bomb to accuse Russia of using tactical nuclear weapons, that Kyiv is developing this bomb under US and NATO supervision, that UK is actively supporting Ukraine’s dirty bomb plan, or that Ukraine’s dirty bomb provocation will take place in November.