MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. The Kiev regime is using the same methods of nuclear terrorism that were once used by al-Qaeda terrorists led by Osama bin Laden, which makes Western countries providing financial and military aid to it sponsors and accomplices of nuclear terrorism, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on his Telegram channel on Monday.

"The methods of nuclear terror have not changed: the ones Osama bin Laden used, Zelensky now uses. <...> The president of the United States and heads of European states, by providing financial and military assistance to the Zelensky regime, become sponsors and accomplices of nuclear terrorism," Volodin noted.

The top legislator recalled that some 20 years ago, Washington spread information that "al-Qaeda terrorists, led by Osama bin Laden, gained access to radioactive substances and were planning to create a dirty bomb capable of contaminating a large area with radiation". Thus, as the Duma speaker noted, the threat of a terrorist attack in the US and Europe using such a bomb "existed until 2011, when Osama bin Laden was eliminated".

"The Kiev regime ordered nuclear scientists to make a dirty bomb. They continue shelling critical infrastructure of nuclear power plants - in Zaporozhye and Kursk - thus provoking a humanitarian disaster," Volodin noted.

Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held telephone conversations with his British, French and Turkish counterparts, as well as with the Pentagon chief. Shoigu conveyed to his colleagues concerns about Ukraine’s possible use of a dirty bomb. For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova spotlighted Ukrainian nuclear blackmail. According to her, Kiev was planning to turn the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant into a dirty bomb.