What is a ‘dirty bomb’? And why is Russia claiming that Ukraine is going to use it?
Russia’s defense minister has claimed that Ukraine could use “dirty bombs” during war, which include conventional explosives as well as radioactive materials.
Russia has not provided any evidence for this claim, while France, Britain and the United States, along with Ukraine, have rejected the allegations.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has told UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace that he fears Ukraine could potentially use a ‘dirty bomb’. He has also claimed this while talking to the Defense Ministers of America, France and Turkey.
France, Britain and the United States said in a joint statement that their governments reject Russia’s false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use dirty bombs on its own soil.
What is a ‘dirty bomb’?
It is a bomb that contains radioactive material, such as uranium, that is released into the air by detonating a conventional explosive.
It is not necessary that the radioactive material in this bomb is the same as a nuclear bomb. This bomb can also use radioactive material used in hospitals, nuclear power plants and research laboratories.
They are much less expensive to develop and can be made in less time than nuclear weapons. They can be loaded onto a vehicle and transported.
Dispersion of radioactive materials in the air can cause diseases like cancer. Therefore, in the area where such a bomb is used, fear and panic spreads among the population.
People are evacuated from the site where the bomb explodes to reduce the effects of radiation. Often such an area is completely evacuated.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, if a bomb containing 9 grams of cobalt and 5 kilograms of TNT was used on Manhattan, the entire city would be unlivable for decades. For this reason, dirty bombs are widely known as weapons of mass disruption, but they are not very reliable.
It needs to be in powder form to spread the radioactive material in a certain area, but if the particles are too small or there is a strong wind, they don’t have much effect.
Why did Russia claim the dirty bomb?
The American Institute for the Study of War has said that the Russian defense minister may have wanted Western aid to Ukraine to be suspended or the NATO alliance possibly weakened. On the other hand, there are also rumors that Russia itself intends to use dirty bombs in Ukraine and will blame it on the Ukrainian army.
However, most military analysts say that Russia cannot make such a mistake because a dirty bomb would harm its own military and the territory under its control. The Institute for the Study of War said that a false flag dirty bomb attack by Russia is unlikely.
Has a dirty bomb ever been used before?
There has not been a successful dirty bomb attack anywhere in the world, but there have been several attempts. Chechen rebels planted a bomb filled with dynamite and cesium in a park in Moscow. The cesium was radioactive material that had been extracted from cancer treatment equipment, but it was found and neutralized by Russian security forces.
In 1998, the Chechen intelligence agency discovered and defused a dirty bomb planted on a railway line.
In the year 2002, Jose Padilla, an American citizen who was in contact with Al-Qaeda, was arrested in Chicago. They were accused of planning a dirty bomb attack. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison
Two years later, a British citizen and al-Qaeda member, Dharan Burot, was arrested in London and sentenced to thirty years in prison for planning terrorist attacks. There was also an accusation against him that he wanted to carry out a dirty bomb attack.
However, none of the two arrested al-Qaeda members had produced a dirty bomb by the time of their arrest.
