Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have “within a few days” the results of their “independent verification” of two Ukrainian facilities following Russian accusations of developing an alleged “dirty bomb,” official sources said.
“The inspectors will carry out an independent verification (…) to detect any diversion of nuclear material,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi explained Thursday in statements to the press.
After meeting behind closed doors with the UN Security Council in New York, the Argentine diplomat told reporters that the conclusions of these inspections will be “very fast”, referring to a few “days”.
The investigations, according to Grossi, will consist of the search for cesium and strontium.
One of the places the IAEA will go is a facility near kyiv, where the UN agency already visited in September, when it ruled out any nuclear risk.
Grossi explained that the accusations made to the IAEA were taken seriously because they came “from a high-ranking Russian official”, but to carry out the inspections he had to contact the Ukrainian government, which he praised for its openness and willingness to let the inspectors work. . .
Hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had called for a fact-finding mission “as soon as possible.”
According to the head of state, Ukraine wants to use a radioactive weapon “so that it can later be said that it was Russia that carried out a nuclear attack.”
A radioactive bomb, or ‘dirty bomb’, consists of conventional explosives surrounded by radioactive materials that disperse as dust at the time of the explosion.
Also on Thursday afternoon, the Security Council held another meeting on Ukraine, this time public, to address Moscow’s accusations of US-backed kyiv making biological weapons.
This accusation has been repeatedly denied by kyiv and Washington, which explain that the facilities pointed out by Moscow are nothing more than disease research centers.
The United Nations, for its part, indicated that it continues to “have no knowledge of any biological weapons program” in the country.
However, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, confirmed that his delegation has prepared a draft resolution that would order an international investigation into this alleged biological weapons program, but that, from the outset, it is unlikely to obtain the necessary support. .
Source: TSF
