Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during calls with western defense chiefs on Sunday warned that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive “dirty bomb” in an alleged “provocation” amid the ongoing war.
American officials said the claims were “transparently false,” and possible a pretext for Russia to launch the type of attack it was supposedly worried about.
Shoigu reportedly made the claims in calls to his counterparts in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Turkey.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the Sunday call “rejected any pretext for Russian escalation and reaffirmed the value of continued communication amid Russia’s unlawful and unjustified war against Ukraine,” according to a readout from the Pentagon.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken also spoke Sunday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, rejecting Shoigu’s “transparently false allegations” and expressing confidence that “the world would see through any attempt by Russia to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation,” according to a readout of the call.
A readout of Shoigu’s call with U.K.’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace notes that the Russian minister “alleged that Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.”
Wallace, like Austin, reportedly refuted the allegations and warned that Russia shouldn’t use the allegations as “pretext for greater escalation.”
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