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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.’”