Russian MoD Has Info on Contacts Between Ukraine, UK on Nuke Tech
11:04 GMT 24.10.2022 (Updated: 10:09 GMT 07.12.2022)
© Photo : Russian Federation Council / Go to the mediabankRussian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops chief Igor Kirillov. File photo.
![Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops chief Igor Kirillov. File photo. Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops chief Igor Kirillov. File photo. - Sputnik International, 1920, 24.10.2022](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/0a/18/1102582905_0:156:3087:1892_1920x0_80_0_0_b75153b793e687cc7dac8b0aa40606fc.jpg)
© Photo : Russian Federation Council
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Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced plans to bring up Ukraine's alleged efforts to stage a dirty bomb provocation up at the United Nations. On Sunday, Russia's defense minister informed his NATO counterparts on the threat of a Ukrainian dirty bomb false flag attack. Kiev and its sponsors have dismissed the allegations.
The Russian military has information on contacts between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office and British representatives on the matter of nuclear weapons technology, Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, has revealed.
"We have information on contacts between the Ukrainian president's office and representatives of Britain on the possible acquisition of nuclear weapon technology," Kirillov said in a briefing Monday.
The senior officer echoed concerns voiced by Defense Minister Shoigu on Sunday - namely that Kiev was "planning a provocation involving the detonation of a so-called 'dirty bomb', or a low-yield nuclear weapon," and then claiming that the explosion was caused by a Russian tactical nuclear weapon.
"The purpose of such a provocation is to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction in the Ukrainian theater of operations and thereby launch a powerful anti-Russian campaign throughout the world aimed at undermining global confidence in Moscow," Kirillov said.
"As a result of such a dirty bomb provocation, Kiev expects to intimidate the local population, increase the flow of refugees across Europe, and 'expose' the Russian Federation as a nuclear terrorist," Kirillov said.
Russia's nuclear doctrine forbids the use of nuclear weapons of any kind - tactical or strategic, unless nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction are used against the country first, or in the event of a conventional attack so severe that it threatens the country's existence.
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace brought up the issue of nuclear weapons in a conversation with a pair of Russian pranksters posing as Zelensky back in March, saying that "the principle is, we will support Ukraine as our friend in the choices you make," including on the issue of "weather you want to explore new weapons, etc."
"Any proposals you talk about are something that the UK would discuss. On your acquisition of a nuclear - you think you want to explore a nuclear weapon, I think I would just be very careful about all of that. We are a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation [Treaty]. We can't be seen to be doing that. That is an entirely different issue so I think we have to be very careful with that," Wallace said at the time.
Details
According to the Russian military's information, Kiev has the technological potential and industrial base necessary to create a dirty bomb. This includes over 1,500 tons-worth of spent nuclear fuel from the country's three operational nuclear plants, plus 22,000 spent fuel assemblies from the defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant containing Uranium-238, as well as other nuclear materials containing Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239. Radioactive agents from the South Ukrainian, Khmelnitsky and Rivne nuclear plants contain uranium oxide enriched to 1.5 percent.
Addition infrastructure which could aid in the production of a dirty bomb includes the new Vector radioactive waste processing plant at the Prydneprovsky Chemical Plant in Kamenskoe, central Ukraine, which has the capacity to accommodate over 50,000 cubic meters of radioactive materials, as well as the Vostochny Mining and Processing Plant, which can extract up to 1,000 tons of uranium ore per year.
On top of that, Ukraine has the necessary scientific base - including the legendary Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology, whose scientists took part in the Soviet nuclear program, plus the Uragan experimental nuclear facility, and the Institute for Nuclear Research at the National Academy of Sciences in Kiev, where research involving highly radioactive materials is being carried out using the WWR-M reactor.
"According to the information we have, two Ukrainian organizations have specific instructions to create a so-called dirty bomb. Work on this project is at the final stage," Kirillov said.
The officer warned that the explosion of a radioactive dirty bomb on Ukrainian territory would spread radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere a distance of up to 1,500 km, spreading into neighboring countries, including Poland.
Syria False Flag
Kirillov recalled that Kiev's suspected preparations to use a dirty bomb are nothing new, and that "similar information warfare technologies have already been used by the West in Syria, where the White Helmets filmed propaganda videos about the use of chemical weapons by government forces," culminating in US air and cruise missile strikes against the country in 2017. The officer warned that a "similar scenario" may be employed in the event of a false flag attack involving the destruction of a radioactive dirty bomb.
He also recalled President Zelensky's comments at the Munich Security Conference in February, just days before Russia kicked off its military operation in Ukraine, in which the Ukrainian president hinted at Kiev's plans to restore the country's status as a nuclear weapons power.
The Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops head stressed that the Russian military has organized work to counter any provocations, and readied forces and means "to perform tasks in conditions of radioactive contamination."
Kirillov's comments on the danger of a Ukrainian dirty bomb false flag were echoed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier in the day Monday. Peskov told reporters that Russia has presented its findings, and that it is up to Western leaders to chose whether they wanted to believe Moscow or not. Lavrov said the foreign ministry has "specific information" on the Ukrainian scientific institutions that could be used to build a dirty bomb, and vowed to bring attention to the matter at the United Nations.
US and European officials issued a joint statement on Monday dismissing Moscow's concerns, vowing to "reject Russia's transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory." Ukrainian officials similarly dismissed the Russian dirty bomb allegations, with President Zelensky claiming that "if Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this" and calling on "the world" to "preemptively" step up pressure on Moscow.