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NATO chief warns Russia not to 'use false pretexts' for escalation
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has 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 from aboard the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush on which he was a guest. "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.
Ukraine has rejected Russia's allegations, along with France, the UK and the US.
The US aircraft carrier currently leads NATO's Neptune Strike 2022 exercise, according to the western alliance.
More than 80 aircraft, 14 ships and around 6,000 soldiers from NATO and partner countries are involved. Neptune Strike "tests our readiness to deter and defend across the Euro-Atlantic area," Stoltenberg asserted.
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It is a bomb that contains radioactive material, such as uranium, which is scattered through the air when its conventional explosive detonates.
It doesn't need to contain highly refined radioactive material, as is used in a nuclear bomb. Instead, it could use radioactive materials from hospitals, nuclear power stations or research laboratories.
This makes them much cheaper and quicker to make than nuclear weapons. They can also be carried in the back of a vehicle, for example.
Because radioactive fallout can cause serious illnesses, such as cancer, such a bomb would cause panic among the targeted population.
US, UK, and France jointly reject Russia ‘dirty bomb’ claim
A wide area around the blast zone would also have to be evacuated for decontamination, or abandoned completely.
The Federation of American Scientists has calculated that if a bomb containing 9g (0.3oz) of cobalt-60 and 5kg of TNT were to be exploded at the tip of Manhattan, in New York, it would make the whole area of the city uninhabitable for decades.
For this reason, dirty bombs are known as weapons of mass disruption. However, as weapons, they are very unreliable.
For the radioactive material in a dirty bomb to be scattered across its target zone, it has to be reduced to powder form. But if the particles are too fine or released into strong winds, they will scatter too widely to do much harm.
