Following Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ accusations, Ukraine urges IAEA to inspect its facilities

Following Russia’s allegations that Ukraine is trying to produce a “dirty bomb,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect “immediately” any energy facilities claimed to be places of “dirty bomb” production.

Kuleba tweeted that his official request for inspection, sent by him to the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, has already met with Grossi’s approval. “Unlike Russia, Ukraine has been and continues to be transparent,” Kuleba wrote. He did not specify which energy objects are going to be inspected by the IAEA.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu accused Ukraine of preparing a “dirty bomb” attack, but gave no evidence of this being true, nor any specific information about where exactly such an explosive might be manufactured.

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti cited “reliable sources” when claiming that the “dirty bomb” had been commissioned by Ukraine to its Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in Zhovti Vody, Dnipropetrovsk Region, as well as the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kyiv.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on October 24 that the threat of a “dirty bomb” was “evident.” When asked about the foreign defense ministers’ refusal to believe Shoigu, Peskov said that their disbelief “does not mean that the threat of a ‘dirty bomb’ ceases to exist.”

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