•NATO chief warns Moscow over ‘false pretexts’ use
Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at Washington’s support for Kiev, claiming Ukraine has lost its sovereignty and become a tool of the United States.
The U.S. is using Ukraine as a “battering ram’’ against Russia and other post-Soviet countries, Putin said yesterday.
Putin alleged that Washington was increasingly arming Ukraine with heavy weapons in its fight against Russian forces, while ignoring the fact that the country is seeking a nuclear bomb.
“It is also known that there are plans for a provocation to use such a so-called dirty bomb,’’ he said once again, a claim that has been slammed by Kiev and its allies in the West as “nonsense’’.
The Russian leadership has been saying for days that Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb, meaning a conventional explosive device that disperses radioactive materials without providing any evidence.
However, on the other hand, Washington and European capitals had said it was Moscow that could be planning such an attack on Ukraine.
But, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg yesterday said that “Russia must not use false pretexts for further escalation” in the Ukraine conflict.
“Russia now falsely claims Ukraine is preparing to use a radiological ‘dirty bomb’ on its own territory,” the NATO boss said.
“NATO allies reject this transparently false allegation.”
“Russia often accuses others of what they intend to do themselves.
“We have seen this pattern before. From Syria to Ukraine,” he added. “The world is watching closely.”
Moscow had previously alleged that Ukraine was planning to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in a bid to discredit Russia.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu yesterday made phone calls to his counterparts in countries such as China and India.
This was to point out such a supposed threat after holding similar conversations with other capitals earlier in the week.
The Kremlin announced that Moscow was also in talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the subject.
Kiev had already invited experts from the UN nuclear watchdog to come to Ukraine to see for themselves the blamelessness of Russian accusations.