DISINFO: The West helps Ukraine to make a dirty bomb

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: The West helps Ukraine to make a dirty bomb

SUMMARY

Russia does not rule out the assistance of some Western countries to the Kyiv regime in making a "dirty bomb".

The goal is clear: to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction. The Ukrainian authorities and their Western masters expect that this will lead to a vigorous campaign against Russia, undermining confidence in Moscow and its partners, and isolating Russia on the international stage.

RESPONSE

No evidence given. 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 on 24 February, 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.

Read similar recents claims that Ukrainian terrorists almost finished a dirty bomb; UK is actively supporting Ukraine’s "dirty bomb" plan; Ukraine's “dirty bomb” provocation will take place in November; Ukraine has a thermonuclear 'dirty' bomb in Mykolaiv which it will detonate and blame Russia; Ukraine is going to use a dirty bomb to accuse Russia of using tactical nuclear weapons.

Disclaimer

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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