DISINFO: The West is helping Ukraine create a "dirty bomb"

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: The West is helping Ukraine create a "dirty bomb"

SUMMARY

According to the available data, Ukraine is carrying out work to create a ‘dirty’ nuclear charge. We believe that this process is taking place with the participation of Western patrons.

RESPONSE

Conspiracy theory, accusing Ukraine and the West of creating a dirty bomb and posing a nuclear threat to Russia.

There is no evidence that Ukraine, with the participation of the West, is attempting to use nuclear materials in a war against Russia.

This is not the first time the Kremlin’s manipulation and disinformation machine has used a deep-seated and very reasonable fear of a nuclear disaster to advance its political and military goals in Ukraine.

Pro-Kremlin sources have previously accused Ukraine of constructing a (dirty) nuclear bomb. Before the full-scale invasion on 24 February, the Kremlin-owned RIA Novosti article stated that “Kyiv is literally one step away” from creating tactical nuclear weapon. It alleged that "Russophobic authorities" in Kyiv are acquiring a dirty bomb. It was one of the reasons for the invasion.

In early March, the Kremlin-owned RT alleged that, based on the evidence from the then-occupied Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine was close to building a plutonium-based "dirty bomb".

Another pro-Kremlin source claimed in May 2022 that Ukraine has stockpiled 40 tons of uranium and 30 tons of plutonium on Zaporizhzhia NPP to create a dirty nuclear bomb.

Western leaders reject Russia's 'dirty bomb' claim and warned that such allegations can be used as a pretext for greater escalation. Ukraine asked the IAEA to "immediately send experts to peaceful facilities in Ukraine, which the Russian Federation falsely describes as sites for the development of a 'dirty bomb'." IAEA inspectors found nothing suspicious in the Ukrainian facilities.

Ukraine has been a nuclear-free country since 1994 when the Budapest memorandum was signed.

See similar disinformation cases claiming that Zelensky regime is building a dirty bomb, that Ukrainian terrorists almost finished adirtybomb, that UK is actively supporting Ukraine’s "dirtybomb" plan, that Western curators are involved in the creation of a "dirty bomb" by Kyiv, that, Ukraine's “dirtybomb” provocation will take place in November, that Ukraine and the West are preparing a nuclear provocation.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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