Russian President
Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a mission of the UN's
atomic agency should inspect Ukraine's nuclear sites "as fast as
possible", reiterating Moscow's claims Kyiv is preparing to use a
"dirty bomb".
اضافة اعلان
"They say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants to come
and check Ukraine's nuclear facilities. We are in favour. And it should be done
as fast as possible," Putin told members of the annual Valdai Discussion
Club.
The Russian president added that Kyiv is "doing everything to cover up
traces of this preparation".
A dirty bomb is a conventional bomb laced with radioactive, biological or
chemical materials which are spread in an explosion.
Russia has accused Ukraine of preparing such a "dirty bomb"
against Moscow's troops.
"I gave (Defence Minster Sergei) Shoigu the order to call all of his
colleagues and inform them" of the plan, Putin said Thursday.
Over the past week, Shoigu repeated the allegations in calls with numerous
counterparts including from France, the US, the UK, China and India.
France, the US and the UK rejected the claim and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg
warned Russia may be trying to use the claim as a "pretext" for
escalation.
Kyiv suspects Russia might itself use a dirty bomb in a "false
flag" attack, possibly to justify use of conventional nuclear weapons by
Moscow as it finds itself on the back foot in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin said Thursday using nuclear weapons in Ukraine would "make no
sense at all to us -- either in political or military terms".
He said Ukraine and the West accused Russia of military escalation to
"influence neutral countries and tell them: look at Russia! Don't
cooperate!"
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