France Sees No Grounds To Accuse Ukraine Of Preparing 'Dirty Bomb' - Foreign Ministry

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2022) France doubts the accuracy of Russian statements about Ukraine allegedly plotting a provocation with the use of a "dirty bomb," as it sees no indication of any such intent on Kiev's part, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said on Friday.

Last week, Moscow said, citing credible sources in various countries, that Kiev was making preparations to detonate a bomb with radioactive elements in Ukraine and then blame the use of weapons of mass destruction on Russia. The Ukrainian authorities rejected the accusation, insisting on their commitment to non-proliferation. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called his counterparts in several Western countries, including France, to share Moscow's concerns, but they rejected the accusation.

"We believe that these statements are false. There is no basis for such allegations," Legendre told La Chaine Info tv channel.

On Monday, a representative of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Sputnik that the organization had received an invitation from Kiev to visit Ukraine in connection with Russia's warnings.

The IAEA plans to send its experts to Kiev and the Ukrainian town of Zhovti Vody in the coming days and present the preliminary results of the visit within a few weeks.

Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Thursday to consider that Ukraine could quite possibly be creating a dirty bomb at another site than the one which it invited IAEA experts to visit.

A "dirty bomb" is a container with radioactive isotopes and an explosive charge. When the charge is detonated, the container is destroyed, and the radioactive substance is sprayed into the air by a shock wave. As a result, radioactive pollution occurs in large areas. If Kiev blows up a "dirty bomb," radioactive isotopes will spread in the atmosphere at a distance of up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and could even reach Poland, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.