(The Guardian) Russia to bring Ukraine ‘dirty bomb’ claim to UN
Russia has doubled down on its claim that Kyiv is preparing to use a “dirty bomb” in Ukraine, saying it would bring the issue to the UN security council on Tuesday.
Moscow sent a letter on its claims about Kyiv to the United Nations late on Monday, and diplomats said it planned to raise the issue with the security council at a closed meeting the following day. “We will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kyiv regime as an act of nuclear terrorism,” Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia wrote UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and the security council in the letter, seen by Reuters. “We urge the western countries to exert their influence on the regime in Kiev to abandon its dangerous plans threatening international peace and security,” he wrote. “We call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to do everything in his power to prevent this heinous crime from happening.”
The foreign ministers of France, Britain and the United States have rejected Moscow’s allegations as “transparently false” and reiterated their support for Ukraine. “The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation,” they said in a joint statement.
What is a dirty bomb, and how dangerous is it?
The Kremlin alleges that Ukraine is preparing to detonate a dirty bomb in order to blame it on Russia and force an escalation to the war. Western countries have dismissed that claim as “transparently false”.
So what is a dirty bomb? -- “Dirty bombs” have long been feared as a potential weapon of terrorists, because their main objective is to sow panic, confusion and anxiety by hurling radioactive dust and smoke into the atmosphere. Although no dirty bomb attack has ever been recorded, two failed attempts to detonate such a device were reported in the southern Russian province of Chechnya more than two decades ago.
Technically known as radiological dispersion devices, dirty bombs are relatively primitive, imprecise weapons. They are much easier and cheaper to build than a nuclear device and also far less dangerous.
Dirty bombs use conventional explosives, such as dynamite, placed alongside radioactive material, which is then flung outward by the force of the blast. The amount of radioactive material dispersed, while dangerous, is not necessarily lethal.
Russia has doubled down on its claim that Kyiv is preparing to use a “dirty bomb” in Ukraine, saying it would bring the issue to the UN security council on Tuesday.
Moscow sent a letter on its claims about Kyiv to the United Nations late on Monday, and diplomats said it planned to raise the issue with the security council at a closed meeting the following day. “We will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kyiv regime as an act of nuclear terrorism,” Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia wrote UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and the security council in the letter, seen by Reuters. “We urge the western countries to exert their influence on the regime in Kiev to abandon its dangerous plans threatening international peace and security,” he wrote. “We call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to do everything in his power to prevent this heinous crime from happening.”
The foreign ministers of France, Britain and the United States have rejected Moscow’s allegations as “transparently false” and reiterated their support for Ukraine. “The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation,” they said in a joint statement.
What is a dirty bomb, and how dangerous is it?
The Kremlin alleges that Ukraine is preparing to detonate a dirty bomb in order to blame it on Russia and force an escalation to the war. Western countries have dismissed that claim as “transparently false”.
So what is a dirty bomb? -- “Dirty bombs” have long been feared as a potential weapon of terrorists, because their main objective is to sow panic, confusion and anxiety by hurling radioactive dust and smoke into the atmosphere. Although no dirty bomb attack has ever been recorded, two failed attempts to detonate such a device were reported in the southern Russian province of Chechnya more than two decades ago.
Technically known as radiological dispersion devices, dirty bombs are relatively primitive, imprecise weapons. They are much easier and cheaper to build than a nuclear device and also far less dangerous.
Dirty bombs use conventional explosives, such as dynamite, placed alongside radioactive material, which is then flung outward by the force of the blast. The amount of radioactive material dispersed, while dangerous, is not necessarily lethal.
