West rejects RU’s ‘dirty bomb’ claim as Moscow activates counterWMD forces

Source: Politico | October 24, 2022 | Lara Seligman

West rejects Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ claim as Moscow activates counter-WMD forces

The comments came as Russia put forces on alert on Monday to respond to a potential chemical, biological or nuclear weapons attack.

Western defense chiefs are rejecting Russian claims over the weekend that Ukraine is preparing to detonate a “dirty bomb” on its own territory, warning that Moscow may use the “false” accusation as a pretext to escalate the conflict.

The comments came as Russia put forces on alert on Monday to respond to a potential chemical, biological or nuclear weapons attack, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu held a flurry of phone calls with his counterparts in the U.S., France, the U.K. and Turkey over the weekend to discuss the allegations, but the Western leaders rejected his claims, officials said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Shoigu twice by phone, once on Friday and again on Sunday. In the most recent call, Austin “rejected any pretext for Russian escalation,” according to a readout from Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed the sentiment, saying that Russia is the “source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war.”

The Russian MoD doubled down on the allegations on Monday, posting a video of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, to Telegram. In the video, Kirillov briefed that Kyiv is planning a false-flag operation that would involve launching a dirty bomb or low-power nuclear warhead on its own soil.

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