ISW: Shoigu's "dirty bomb" claims are intended to split NATO

Recall the history of the issue. The Minister of Defense of the aggressor country of Russia, Shoigu, called the Ministers of Defense of France and Turkey and said about some kind of “dirty bomb” that the Ukrainian authorities were allegedly preparing to use in order to later blame Russia for this. According to him, this is not a nuclear bomb, but a simple ammunition, but with a nuclear filling. If it is blown up, then radioactive substances will enter the atmosphere.

This call to Shoigu was reported by the RIA Novosti agency, the same state-owned Russian media that, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, published an article “What Russia should do with Ukraine” calling for the ethnocide of Ukrainians.

After a series of calls to Shoigu, France, Britain and the United States issued a joint statement calling Shoigu's "dirty bomb" speculation a lie that looks like a pretext for escalating the war.

Even earlier, the Kyiv authorities denied the Russian accusations.

Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba tweeted :

The Russian lie that Ukraine is allegedly planning to use a "dirty bomb" is as absurd as it is dangerous. Firstly, Ukraine is an adherent of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: we do not have a "dirty bomb" and we are not going to acquire it. Second, Russians often blame others for what they plan to do themselves.

Experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also believe that the Kremlin, apparently, is preparing an informational background for a subsequent provocation, in order to later blame Ukraine for this.

The ISW also believes that these lies are intended to stop Western military assistance to Ukraine and sow division within NATO. Experts also recalled that even before the start of a full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation unfoundedly accused Ukraine of seeking to seize weapons of mass destruction and use them.

They also believe that these calls to Shoigu are unlikely to indicate preparations for the use of "non-strategic nuclear weapons."