The threat of the so called dirty bomb by Kiev has become the most discussed issue for the world media and top-tier politicians at Russia's instigation. The Kremlin effectively applied the typical American technique of ‘first to accuse is first to be right.’
Bombshell No.1
Let's hope that the ‘dirty nuclear bomb’ remains a figure of speech. As for the world media, the dirty bomb in Ukraine has been the point of hot debate in recent days, meaning that Russia has at least detonated a ‘nuclear bombshell’ in the world media space.
The topic of the dirty bomb was launched into the world's information space by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who held telephone talks with the defense ministers of the United States, Britain, Turkey, and France on Sunday, October 23. The Russian Defense Ministry dropped some strong hints about who could be behind the invention of the dirty bomb, stating that the Office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had contacts with the British authorities about the technology of creating such a ‘dirty’ nuclear charge. On Monday, October 24, Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov discussed the issue of the dirty bomb with the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and the British Chief of Defense Staff, Admiral Anthony Raidakin.
On Tuesday, October 25, Russia initiated a meeting of the UN Security Council, at the end of which Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky expressed his satisfaction, stating “that we have raised the level of awareness.” When asked about the evidence, Polyansky referred to intelligence information, specifying that this data had been passed on to “Western colleagues” “with the necessary level of clearance.” Meanwhile, British Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations James Kariuki made a malicious commentary on the meeting, saying that he and his colleagues “saw and heard no new evidence,” and called Russia's accusations “patently false.”
“This is pure Russian misinformation of the kind of we've seen many times before and it should stop,” Kariuki said. But to be fair, it should be noted that Russia has never raised the topic of a possible dirty bomb attack in Ukraine before.
Most importantly, the problem of the dirty bomb provocation is voiced on the highest world platforms.
On Wednesday, October 26, Shoigu again discussed the topic of the dirty bomb, this time with Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, expressing “concern about possible provocations by Ukraine using a dirty bomb.”
Official Kiev, if we evaluate its statements in terms of information work, reacted competently to the accusations, too. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba suggested that an IAEA mission led by Rafael Grossi come to Ukraine and inspect both the Vostochny Mining and Processing Combine (the city of Zheltye Vody in Dnepropetrovsk Region) and the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (Kiev,) that is, both institutions that, as Moscow said, were involved in the creation of the ‘dirty nuclear bomb.’ IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi officially confirmed the readiness of a mission of the international organization to come to Ukraine and inspect both facilities.
From CNN to Fringes
So, the topic of the dirty nuclear bomb resounded in the world media. Moreover, it became the most discussed issue, pushing aside the U.S. midterm elections, the grain deal and the attempted ‘color revolution’ in Iran. As a result, all the first-tier Western media outlets in prime time are talking about the dirty bomb throughout the entire war zone, from CNN and Reuters to the provincial Dallas Herald.
It is important that the Russian thesis “Ukraine is preparing to detonate a 'dirty' nuclear bomb” can still be heard over the Western cliché “It's all Putin and Russia's fault.”
According to the BBC, “Russia claims Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb - a device containing radioactive material as well as conventional explosives. Ukraine has rejected Russia’s allegations, along with France, the UK and the US.”
“If Russia were to deploy a dirty bomb or other type of nuclear weapon in Ukraine, there would be consequences,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said, according to the official U.S. Defense Department website www.defense.gov.
At the briefing, Ryder noted that U.S. officials communicated these implications to Russia using different levels of communication. “We reject reports of Minister Shoigu’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.
Patrick Ryder added that the U.S. Department of Defense maintains special technical means capable of detecting nuclear or radiological explosions of any yield on a 24/7 basis.
“Senior U.S., British and French officials have called Russian statements an attempt to create a pretext for escalating war in Ukraine, and have refuted Kremlin accusations that Kiev is preparing to detonate a 'dirty' bomb on its territory,” wrote the influential American newspaper The New York Times.
This is not Pentagon
In information warfare, the first one to accuse the opponent is often the one who wins in the eyes of the audience. As we can see, in this case the Kremlin used this trick. That is why official Kiev, led by Zelensky, the Western media, the Pentagon, and the White House are on the defensive. They refute, but all in reaction to accusations made by Shoigu and other Russian officials.
However, on the different flanks of the Western information front, the picture is different. According to the BBC, “Russia claims Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb.” The Pentagon traditionally blames all past, present and future troubles on Russia, but still has to respond to ‘Russia's accusations that Ukraine is preparing a dirty bomb.’ The New York Times, which has effectively become the official mouthpiece of the U.S. Democratic Party, focuses on refuting Moscow's ‘transparent hint,’ but still has to mention that the Kremlin accused official Kiev of plans to detonate the dirty bomb. In general, in one interpretation or another, but there is still Russia's position.
This means that Russia managed to break the information blockade in the Western media because even The New York Times, which is openly anti-Russian, is forced to admit that the issue of the dirty bomb was initiated by Russia. As for the minimally impartial media, they often present the topic in Russia's interpretation, or quote Shoigu/Nebenzia/Peskov.
Meanwhile, there are people among the Russian media figures who agitate for Russia's use of tactical nuclear weapons. For example, military correspondent Alexander Sladkov has been openly urging the Kremlin to use TNWs against Ukraine for months. On October 24, Sladkov said on the air of Moscow Talks radio station that the special military operation could end with a nuclear strike on Ukraine when “one crater edge will be on the border with Poland, and the second one will be on the outskirts facing southeastern Kiev.”
Perhaps such stamp orators simply do not understand that a TNW detonation would risk affecting not only the territory of Ukraine, but also many neighboring countries, as in the case of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. But, most importantly, such calls sound in unison with Western voices, for whom it is always “Putin's fault.” What an interesting conclusion, isn't it?
The topic of provocation with “nuclear weapons” has already been raised in 2014
In conclusion, it is worth recalling that the problem of the dirty nuclear bomb is not new. In connection with the Ukrainian crisis it has been heard at least for the second time. In the summer and fall of 2014, many Russian opinion leaders began to promote the idea that the Ukrainian authorities might detonate a tactical nuclear warhead in Donbass.
For example, this is how Russian economist Mikhail Delyagin, who is now a member of the State Duma, described this monstrous provocation.
Delyagin titled his column “Will the Americans dare to arrange a nuclear explosion-like provocation in the Donbass?”
To do this, according to Delyagin, the Ukrainian army would first have to go on the offensive.
“Yes, it has no forces for an offensive and the level of demoralization is monstrous. So, it portrays an offensive... All the Western media, not to mention the Ukrainian media, scream in unison about the liberation of another 300 square meters of the Donetsk airport, for example.”
Then, as Delyagin warned, a nuclear charge is detonated in places where AFU units are deployed.
“After which a tactical nuclear charge is detonated in the Ukrainian army's offensive strip.”
After the detonation of the nuclear charge, according to Delyagin, the Western media and politicians will blame Russia for this tragedy with a powerful chorus. No one is going to figure out who is really to blame, as we saw with the Skripals or the Malaysian Boeing disaster.
“After which everyone is shouting that it was the damned Russia that used nuclear weapons. The liberal intelligentsia has already raised a wild squeal about this,” he said.
Delyagin believes that this scenario would not cause any difficulties for Americans, because the US has already used nuclear weapons twice. So, as the Americans say, there is no problem to do it a third time.
“Here's something that's going to be extremely difficult to wash off. The fact that it is quite normal for the Americans, because they have already used nuclear weapons both times in the history of mankind. To use them a third time is not so difficult,” said Delyagin.
Yet, in 2014, no one ever detonated a tactical nuclear charge in Donbass. Perhaps the “information inoculation” against provocation worked. After all, provocation is based on surprise. If forewarned is forearmed, then what kind of surprise is there? By the way, the situation today is much like the summer-autumn of 2014, because the AFU is trying to attack in the Kherson, Zaporozhye, and Luhansk directions (except that in Donbass, DNR-LNR units, and Russian cadres are attacking.) Moreover, compared to 2014, the UK is also actively involved in the Ukrainian crisis on the Western side, in addition to the United States.
If we talk about historical precedents, then up to now the only country in the world that twice (!!!) used nuclear weapons to massively destroy the inhabitants of Japan with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 is the United States.