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Moscow comments on Ukrainian official's 'dirty bomb' statements

The Russian Foreign Ministry said creation of a 'dirty bomb' would turn Ukraine into a rogue state
Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow ITAR-TASS/Gennady Khamelyanin
Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow
© ITAR-TASS/Gennady Khamelyanin

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. Creation of a 'dirty bomb' that incorporates fissionable materials will turn Ukraine into a rogue state, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a comment on Wednesday in connection with the declarations made earlier by the Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Oleksanr Turchynov.

"We would like to hope such programs exist only in Mr. Turchynov's inflamed mentality," the commentary said. "He obviously falls short of realizing the aftermaths of implementation of such ideas."

"The manufacturing of devices of this kind would turn Ukraine into a rogue state and would bring up the application of provisions of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter to it," the ministry said.

Turchynov told reporters on April 9 the Ukrainian authorities were allegedly bracing themselves for implementation of a number of unspecified confidential nuclear programmes to create either nuclear weapons or a ‘dirty bomb’, which is a device for dispersal of low-radiation materials with the aid of conventional explosives, thus contaminating territory and forcing all the civilians to flee it.

"More often than not, such plans are revealed by terrorist groupings of every description and we would actually like to hope such programmes exist only in Mr. Turchynov's inflamed mentality, as he in all probability is unaware of the consequences the implementation of these ideas might entail," the commentary said.