Russia used a photo from Slovenia dating back to 2010 to back up claims on Twitter about a “dirty bomb” being prepared by Ukraine, the Slovenian government said on Wednesday, AFP and Agerpres reported.
“The use of the photo was done improperly and without the approval of the Slovenian authorities,” said Dragan Barbutovski, an adviser to Prime Minister Robert Golob’s office.
Earlier, the Slovenian government published a series of tweets in English condemning the fact that “the photo used by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Twitter” was “a photo of the Slovenian Agency for Radioactive Waste (ARAO)”.
The photo used by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Twitter (https://t.co/C9ty3hU3Ef) is an ARAO photo from 2010. pic.twitter.com/1f1DynuvFR
— Government of Slovenia (@govSlovenia) October 25, 2022
It was used for professional presentations for a wide and interested audience as explanatory material. The photo shows smoke detectors for general use.
— Government of Slovenia (@govSlovenia) October 25, 2022
They contain a radioactive source, but not any of the radioactive sources listed in the table below the photo. The photo was published without the knowledge of ARAO.
— Government of Slovenia (@govSlovenia) October 25, 2022
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted the following message on Twitter on Monday, also in English: “Russian Ministry of Defense: According to the information we have, two Ukrainian bodies were ordered to create a #dirty bomb.”
The text was illustrated with photographs showing, in particular, a nuclear power plant, a radioactive waste repository, research reactors, and plastic bags with spent uranium and plutonium.
On the plastic bags was written “radioaktivno”, which means “radioactive” in Slovenian.
uD83DuDCAC Ministry of Defense of Russia: According to available information, two organizations of Ukraine ❗ were directly ordered to create the so-called #dirtbomb.
☢️ Works at the final stage. pic.twitter.com/7mxxCpWSWK
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia uD83CuDDF7uD83CuDDFA (@mfa_russia) October 24, 2022
⚠️ @mod_russia: The Kyiv regime plans to disguise the explosion of this type of ammunition under the extraordinary effect of a low-power Russian nuclear warhead, which contains highly enriched uranium in its charge.
uD83DuDD17 https://t.co/wPxeFNQDWh pic.twitter.com/XKeSN0nQgN
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia uD83CuDDF7uD83CuDDFA (@mfa_russia) October 24, 2022
Putin himself accused Ukraine of preparing a “dirty bomb” and declared the high risks of a world conflict
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia is aware of Ukraine’s plans to use a “dirty bomb”, repeating an unsubstantiated accusation repeatedly made by Moscow in recent days, according to Reuters.
Speaking at a meeting with intelligence chiefs from several former Soviet republics, Putin said the risk of conflict in the world and the region was high and that security at key infrastructure facilities needed to be strengthened.
Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov previously said that Moscow would “resolutely” continue to draw the international community’s attention to what it considers Ukraine’s threat to detonate a “dirty bomb” of radioactive contamination.
The US, Europe and NATO called the accusations against Ukraine a Russian fabrication, while the Ukrainian government warned that Russia often condemns such problems when it intends to use banned weapons itself, often under a “false flag”, and then blame Kyiv, international press agencies note .
A radiological bomb or “dirty bomb” consists of conventional explosives surrounded by radioactive materials designed to disperse into dust after detonation.
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