According to Ljubljana, the evidence of a possible Ukrainian “dirty bomb” is absolutely bogus. Russia used a photo from Slovenia and dating from 2010 to support its allegations on Twitter of this nuclear weapon that kyiv would concoct, the Slovenian government told AFP on Wednesday. The use “was made ill-advisedly and without the knowledge of the Slovenian authorities”, estimated Dragan Barbutovski, adviser to the office of Prime Minister Robert Golob.
Earlier, the Slovenian government issued a series of tweets in English denouncing that “the photo used by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Twitter” is “a photo of the Slovenian Radioactive Waste Agency (ARAO)”.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry posted the following message, also in English, on Twitter: “Russian Ministry of Defense: according to the information at our disposal, two Ukrainian organizations have been ordered to create the #bombsale”.
The text was illustrated with photos representing in particular a nuclear power plant, a radioactive waste storage site, scientific research reactors as well as plastic bags containing used uranium and plutonium. The word “radioaktivno”, which means “radioactive” in Slovenian, appeared on the plastic bags.
“Waste stored safely”
One of the photos used in the Russian tweet to refer to Ukrainian ‘dirty bomb’ capabilities […] dates from 2010 and has been used at conferences and for leaflets”, explained the government of Slovenia, a member country of the European Union (EU) and NATO. She was “ published without ARAO’s knowledge”, he specified. “Radioactive waste is stored safely and under surveillance in Slovenia. They will not be used to make dirty bombs,” he added.
Russia has accused Ukraine since Sunday of preparing a weapon consisting of conventional explosives surrounded by radioactive materials intended to be disseminated during the explosion. She reiterated her accusations to China and India on Wednesday.
Ukraine and the West have denounced “absurd” and “dangerous” allegations and suggested that Russia was itself preparing for an escalation on the battlefield, where its troops have suffered a series of defeats since September.