The allegations sound absurd: Ukraine is planning to contaminate its own territory with a "dirty bomb" and then blame the attack on Russia, the Kremlin claims. Now the UN Security Council is to deal with the allegations.
Russia wants to bring the issue of a "dirty bomb" to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, according to diplomats. Russia will accuse Ukraine of planning an attack with an explosive device containing radioactive material. "We will consider the use of a 'dirty bomb' by the Kiev regime as an act of nuclear terrorism," Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia wrote in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council. He urged Guterres to do everything in his power to "prevent this heinous crime."
The issue will be raised at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, the diplomats said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of planning such an attack and blaming Ukraine for it. Western countries have also vehemently rejected Russia's accusation and suspect a pretext for escalating the war that has been going on for eight months. The British mission to the United Nations wrote on Twitter late Monday: "Reminder: Ukraine has no nuclear weapons".
Previous Russian claims that Ukraine might be using biological weapons, for example, had raised concerns in the West that Moscow might commit false flag acts and then blame Kyiv. Russia has said it is preparing its armed forces for use in nuclear radiation conditions.
At the request of the government in Kyiv, the IAEA wants to examine the Russian allegation that Ukraine is planning to build a "dirty bomb". According to its own statements, the UN atomic energy agency will send inspectors to two Ukrainian nuclear plants in the coming days, in which, according to Russia, work is being carried out on explosive devices containing radioactive material. Both objects had already been checked a month ago.
