By staging a ‘dirty bomb’ provocation, Kiev wants to pit the two nuclear powers against each other, Anatoly Antonov claims
Anatoly Antonov, Russian ambassador to the US, gestures while speaking during a round-table discussion on the Trump-Putin summit on July 20, 2018. © AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko
Washington is ignoring Moscow’s warnings about alleged Ukrainian plans to detonate a ‘dirty bomb’ to frame Russia, the latter’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, claimed on Wednesday.
He added that this could enable Kiev to drag the US and NATO directly into the conflict.
In an article posted on social media, Antonov said that Russia has been “making every effort to get through to the international community” to warn about a potential dirty bomb false-flag incident by Kiev to frame Russia. Ukraine, he said, is also considering an even more dangerous scenario – a provocation at a nuclear power plant which could result in “an accident comparable to the Chernobyl and Fukushima.”
“Yet Washington shies away from our warnings, calling them ‘false’ and ‘groundless,’ while using a formula of ‘look who’s talking,’” the ambassador stated.
According to Antonov, Ukraine plans to detonate a dirty bomb to make it appear that Russia used a tactical nuclear weapon, so “Kiev can pretend to be a victim and drag the United States and NATO directly into the conflict” and “pit the nuclear powers against each other,” he said.
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“The US keeps pretending that it does not see these dangerous trends,” he claimed, adding that “by justifying the Kiev regime,” Washington is becoming an “accomplice of nuclear terrorism.”
Last month, Russia warned that Kiev’s forces could be planning to detonate a dirty bomb on its own territory to intimidate the local population, trigger a refugee exodus to the EU, and portray Moscow as “a nuclear terrorist.”
The US, UK, and France immediately rejected Moscow’s claims, calling them “blatantly false allegations,” saying this “should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation.”
In the wake of Russia’s warnings, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) dispatched a mission to Ukraine, claiming that its inspectors found no “undeclared” nuclear materials or activities after visiting three Ukrainian research facilities. Officials in Kiev said this was proof that Russia’s allegations regarding a dirty bomb plot were unfounded.
However, Russia had told the IAEA that Ukraine’s alleged efforts could be taking place in other facilities that had not been inspected.
“We told IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi that he must be vigilant, because these facilities are not the only ones where [a dirty bomb] can be produced,” Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, said at the time.
