MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Reports of Kiev receiving radioactive materials for a provocation are fake, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Wednesday.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow was concerned about information that Kiev could stage a provocation using radioactive materials near Transnistria, where tensions were mounting. She added that the ports in the Odessa Region that were involved in the grain export deal could have been used for the delivery of radioactive materials to Ukraine.

"Russia’s claim that Ukraine has received radiological material to stage a ‘provocation’ is fake news. Ukraine is strictly committed to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons," Nikolenko wrote on Twitter.

According to Zakharova, on February 16 containers with radioactive substances and English-language markings were delivered to the port of Chernomorsk from the territory of a European state bypassing customs inspection. "On February 19, similar containers containing the radioactive substance California-252, which is reportedly actively used in checking the integrity of nuclear power plant reactors, were delivered to the port of Odessa on one of the dry cargo ships," the Russian diplomat said, adding: "The radioactive monitoring system was disabled during its reception at the port."

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier said that the Kiev regime planned to stage a provocation to blame the Russian Armed Forces for indiscriminate strikes on radiation-hazardous sites.