Russian Propaganda, Russian Threats, Russian War Crimes

"[Energoatom] assumes ... [the Russians] are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at [the plant]."

"Destruction of these [174 containers of radioactive waste] as a result of explosion will lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometres of the adjacent territory."

Energoatom, Ukrainian state energy provider

A mock 'dirty bomb' is detonated during an exercise by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 16, 2007. Moscow has recently and repeatedly claimed Ukraine is planning to detonate such a device on its own territory. (Richard Clement/Reuters)

 

With the Russian military on its back feet, fears are rising that Vladimir Putin's not-so-veiled threats surrounding his authorization of the Russian military to use a 'dirty bomb' which it will accuse Kyiv of doing, has both Ukraine and the international community supporting it on edge. Intelligence has it that Russian forces have been readied for work in 'radioactive conditions'. Lt.-Gen.Igor Kirillov, head of radiation chemical and biological defence forces of the Russian armed forces was said to have given a briefing on the issue.

Propaganda from Russian malinformation sources speaks of an accusatory scenario that has Russian authorities claiming that Kyiv has authorized its military to prepare to use a 'dirty bomb' and point the finger of responsibility at Moscow, in a diabolical move to escalate the war, when anyone with an ounce of reflection would know it is the reverse that will occur; Russia preparing to send its war in Ukraine into an altogether new dimension that will have wider, and far more dangerous international consequences.

A controlled dirty bomb is unlikely to have as many direct human casualties as a nuclear bomb. But its potential to heavily destroy the viability of arable land for farming will have its impact on already short supplies of food needed by the international community. The disturbing fear that partners with any possibility that radiation aftereffects will be circulating in close proximity to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant occupied by Russia and operated by Ukrainian plant workers arouses a spectre of viral danger.

 

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu sent his claims about Ukraine to his counterparts in the West. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/The Associated Press)

 

Russia's defence minister, General Sergei Shoigu put in official calls to counterparts in Britain, France, Turkey and the U.S., alleging Ukraine was planning a "dirty bomb" strike shortly. Energoatom for its part, the operator of the country's four nuclear power plants, spoke of Russian forces carrying out secret construction work last week at the occupied plant and that Russian authorities in control of the area were refused access to Ukrainian staff running the plant and nor were monitors from the UN atomic energy watchdog given inspection access.

Dirty bombs while not as dangerous as nuclear bombs, are weapons of terror; killing far fewer people, but their psychological impact is hugely unnerving to an occupied population. They will scatter radioactive material placed around a conventional explosive. And although the explosive blast from a dirty bomb will not be maximized by the radioactive waste, people who survive the explosion would breathe radioactive material, requiring immediate medical intervention.

The entire geographic region the blast would contaminate would require decontamination following which people would have to be permanently evacuated in the area; life there for  a prolonged period of time just not possible, the region completely abandoned. Part of Russia's 'scorched earth' policy in Ukraine which has already displaced millions of people as well as having created millions of refugees, killed and wounded tens of thousands of civilians.

Some analysts suggest Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn't need the pretense of a dirty bomb to launch a nuclear weapon. (Alexei Babushkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/The Associated Press)