Calls about the "dirty bomb". Russia scares the second day with a weapon that exists only in theory - what NATO countries and analysts think about it

Early on the morning of Sunday, RIA Novosti, referring to “deserving sources,” said that Ukraine is supposedly going to blow up a “dirty bomb” on its territory and blame Russia for this. Soon, Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu began to call his colleagues from NATO countries and warn them about this, but he was not believed - Russia was accused of trying to use such statements to escalate war. The Ukrainian authorities recalled that the Kremlin often accuses others of what he plans to do himself. "Mediazona" talks about the reaction of military analysts and scientists to statements by the Russian authorities.

On Sunday, in the telegram channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense, almost the same reports appeared about the calls of the head of the department of Sergei Shoigu to his colleagues from France , Turkey , Great Britain and the USA , in order to bring “concern about possible provocations from Ukraine”-application.

Probably, in conversations, Shoigu relied on the note of the Russian State Agency of RIA Novosti, published a few hours before the negotiations of the Minister, on the morning of October 23. In it, the publication, referring to the unnamed, but “deserving confidence, sources in different countries, including Ukraine,” told about “APU plans” to blow up a “dirty bomb”.

“Under the leadership of Western curators,” approved in the publication, the “dirty bomb” jointly manufactures the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in the city of Yellow Waters of the Dnipropetrovsk Region and the Institute of Nuclear Studies in Kyiv.

“The calculation of the organizers of the provocation is that, if it successfully implemented it, most countries will extremely react to a“ nuclear incident ”in Ukraine. As a result, Moscow will lose the support of many of its key partners, and the West will again try to raise the question of depriving Russia of the status of a constant member of the UN Security Council and increase anti -Russian rhetoric, ”the note says.

At the beginning of the war, Russian state media and officials claimed that Ukraine was preparing or going to use nuclear or radiological weapons.

On March 1, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the creation of nuclear weapons is “real danger” by Ukraine, and two days later, the director of the foreign intelligence service Sergei Naryshkin said that the Russian military has data on Ukraine’s development of such weapons. Then the anonymous source of Interfax claimed that Ukraine was preparing to create a “dirty bomb” at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and “an increased radiation background for the Chernobyl zone hid the conduct of such work.”

“Dirty bomb” is the everyday name of the radiological weapon, a type of weapon of mass destruction. It is a container with a radioactive substance that is sprayed when the non -nuclear ammunition is undermined and infects the adjacent territory. It is officially unknown that "dirty bombs" ever be used. In theory, the radioactive substances of such ammunition will probably not create sufficient irradiation to cause an immediate serious illness outside the epicenter of the explosion, however, they can lead to radiation infection of the soil, water and the foci of occurrence of radiation disease in large territories.

“The“ dirty bomb ”can probably hit the territory with a diameter of about a few hundred meters (if so). To create serious pollution in a large territory, you need to blow up a nuclear reactor according to the type of Chernobyl. From the stopped (as in Zaporozhye), a shitty “dirty bomb” would have been obtained, ” said Pavel Expert Pavel expert in the field of nuclear security, a senior researcher at the Mass Defense Institute in the UN Institute for Research.

A nuclear scientist, an expert on national security, Cheryl Rofer, agree with him. “It is actually difficult to disperse the material in the explosion. The most effective filling for the “dirty bomb” would be some types of hospital radioactive waste that contain powder, ”she writes. “As [the feat] says, the defeat zone will be limited.”

She confirms that the stopped VVER reactor “would be a lousy“ dirty bomb ”. “Radioactive material [there] is protected by concrete shells and stainless steel,” Rofer explains. - Fuel tablets for a nuclear reactor - the size of about the tip of the thumb - can fly around in the district, but they are not as dangerous as powder in terms of pollution. A similar result can be expected for fuel in the cooler ponds, although it is more vulnerable than fuel in the reactor. ”

According to her, the “dirty bomb” is primarily a psychological weapon, since all these statements of the Russian authorities scare the population. “The meaning of the“ dirty bomb ”is to pollute the territory with radioactive substances. People in this area will feel their impact and will need medical care, but this is unlikely to be enough for many cases of radiation disease, ”she notes.

"Russians often accuse others of planning themselves." Reaction of Ukraine and NATO countries

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Ukraine does not have a “dirty bomb”, and suggested that Russia itself was preparing to use such a weapon.

“Russia's lies about supposedly Ukrainian plans to apply a“ dirty bomb ”as absurd as dangerous. Firstly, Ukraine is a devoted side: we do not have any "dirty bombs" and do not plan to have them. Secondly, Russians often accuse others of planning themselves, ”he wrote .

At night, France, Great Britain and the United States released a joint response to Shoigu warning.

“Our countries made it clear that we reject the obviously false allegations of Russia that Ukraine is preparing to apply a“ dirty bomb ”in its own territory. The world will clearly see any attempt to use this statement as a pretext for escalation. We also reject any prepositions for escalation from Russia, ”the statement said.

The daily report of the American Institute for the Study of War is also devoted to telephone conversations of Sergei Shoigu.

According to analysts, the Russian Minister of Defense may have tried to slow down or suspend Western military assistance to Ukraine and weaken the NATO alliance. At the same time, researchers consider the Kremlin’s readiness to use a “dirty bomb” independently unlikely to then blame Ukraine for this. In addition, Shoigu’s statements are unlikely to talk about Russia's plans to use “non -strategic nuclear weapons” - Vladimir Putin will make such a decision “purely personally”.

“Therefore, the calls of Shoigu and strengthening the Russian state media of false threats about“ dirty bombs ”are most likely aimed at intimidating the Western states and making them reduce or limit the support of Ukraine, since Russia is faced with continuing military failures and the probable loss of the western part of Kherson by the end of the year,” the report said.

Although it was not possible to convince Western countries that Ukraine was going to use such weapons, the Russian authorities continued to talk about this today. So, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov insists that the "threat is evident." “Their distrust of the information that was transmitted by the Russian side does not mean that there is a threat to the use of such a“ dirty bomb ”,” TASS quotes him.

The Ministry of Defense also issued a statement in which it continues to talk about "planning the Kiev regime of provocation." According to the agency, Ukraine is going to disguise the undermining of the “dirty bomb” under the “emergency operation of Russian nuclear ammunition”, in which highly enriched uranium is used as a charge.

“As a result of a provocation using a“ dirty bomb ”, Ukraine expects to intimidate the local population, increase the flow of refugees in Europe and put up the Russian Federation as a nuclear terrorist,” said Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces.

Editor: Maria Klimova