According to the Slovenian government, Russia used a 2010 photo to spread disinformation.
Russia used a 2010 photo from Slovenia to support its Twitter accusations about the “dirty bomb” Ukraine is preparing, the Slovenian government told AFP on Wednesday. The operation “was carried out unjustly and without the knowledge of the Slovenian authorities,” said Dragan Barbutovski, an adviser in Prime Minister Robert Golob’s office. Earlier, the Slovenian government published a series of tweets in English denouncing that “the photo used by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Twitter” was “a photo of the Slovenian Radioactive Waste Agency (ARAO)”.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted the following message, also in English: “Russian Defense Ministry: According to our information, two Ukrainian organizations have been instructed to create the #bombsale.” The text was illustrated with photographs depicting in particular a nuclear power plant, a radioactive waste storage facility, scientific research reactors, and plastic bags containing used uranium and plutonium.
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The plastic bags had the word “radioaktivno” written on them, which means “radioactive” in Slovenian. “One of the photos used in the Russian tweet to refer to the capabilities of the Ukrainian dirty bomb […] dates from 2010 and was used at conferences and for leaflets,” said the government of Slovenia, a member country of the European Union (EU) and NATO. It was “released without the knowledge of ARAO,” he said. “Radioactive waste is stored safely and under surveillance in Slovenia. They will not be used to make dirty bombs,” he added.
Russia has since Sunday accused Ukraine of manufacturing a weapon consisting of conventional explosives surrounded by radioactive material intended to be spread during the blast. She reiterated her accusations against China and India on Wednesday. Ukraine and the West have denounced “absurd” and “dangerous” allegations and hinted that Russia is preparing itself for an escalation on the battlefield, where its troops have suffered a string of defeats since September.
SEE ALSO – “Dirty bomb”: Moscow accuses Kyiv with a photo of Slovenian origin