Russia Calls on West to Urge Kiev to Abandon ‘Dirty Bomb’ Scheme
Moscow calls on the West to influence Ukraine to abandon plans of the possible use of a ‘dirty bomb’ and nuclear blackmail, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.
"We call on the West to influence its Ukrainian proteges to abandon this highly dangerous risky undertaking. And not only this one, but all those steps, activities and actions that involve nuclear blackmail, since all this leads to irreversible consequences and possible mass deaths of innocent civilians," she said, TASS reported.
Radiation has no borders, she stressed. "It does not need passports, visas or permissions. It cannot be sanctioned and prevented from crossing the border. It is much more insidious and does not ask anyone’s permission to penetrate anywhere and critically affect people’s health," the diplomat added.
Head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov told reporters on Monday that the Russian Defense Ministry alerted its troops to be ready to act "in conditions of radioactive contamination" because it had obtained information that Kiev is preparing to detonate a dirty bomb.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also stated there’s a dirty-bomb risk. Russia has raised the issue at the UN Security Council.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has held telephone conversations with his counterparts in the UK, US, Turkey and France to warn about the threat from Ukraine. Washington, London and Paris have stated, however, that they don’t believe Russia.