Russia’s ‘Dirty Bomb’ Warnings Slammed as ‘False Flag’

The United States has joined British and Ukrainian officials to dismiss unproven allegations from Russia’s defense chief that Ukraine is planning to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” and blame it on Moscow in what Russia is calling “nuclear blackmail.”

Echoing claims in March from Russian state media that warned Ukraine had been prepping a “plutonium-based dirty bomb nuclear weapon” at the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear plant, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the latest allegations of a “rapidly deteriorating situation” during phone calls with the United States, Britain, France, and Turkey.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Shoigu had voiced concern about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb.’”

A “dirty bomb” is an explosive device that disperses radioactive waste once detonated.

Analysts reacted to the latest accusations similarly to the March claims, describing how Russia could use the allegations as a “false flag” to pave the way to use its own nuclear arsenal.

U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace was among those cautioning that “such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed the claims Sunday night after a conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Blinken said the U.S. rejects Russia’s “false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory.”

Kuleba followed, tweeting: “We both agreed Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ disinformation campaign might be aimed at creating a pretext for a false flag operation.” Kuleba said Russia’s “lies... are as absurd as they are dangerous.” He said Ukraine was a “committed” member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and confirmed “we neither have any ‘dirty bombs,’ nor plan to acquire any. Russians often accuse others of what they plan themselves.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said: “The thought of a ‘dirty bomb’ is repulsive to us,” while Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called it a “dirty attempt to justify the genocide with a new fake.”

A report by The Institute for the Study of War said it’s likely Shoigu “sought to slow or suspend Western military aid to Ukraine and possibly weaken the NATO alliance in scare-mongering calls” and claimed “Shoigu’s round of calls was likely further Russian saber-rattling to intimidate Ukraine’s Western supporters and possibly widen fissures within the NATO alliance, not condition setting for imminent nuclear use.”