Russian leadership reported on a desperate attempt to prevent the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. On October 23-24, Russians appealed directly to the heads of defence departments of the nuclear powers: the United States, France and Great Britain, sharing the possible forms and consequences of a prepared atomic attack with the public.
The Western governments responded in a joint statement released by the US State Department. "Earlier today, the defence ministers of each of our countries spoke to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at his request. Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia's transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory. The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation. We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia," said the joint statement.
Let's look at it as ordinary people believing in Ukraine's use of nuclear weapons (a battlefield explosive or a "dirty bomb") to cast the blame for the strike on Russia. It may lead to dramatic and tectonic shifts. Among them may be the legitimisation of nuclear weapons, at first if used against Russia, the de facto abolition of international rules and norms of warfare, mass migrations in Europe, and large-scale negative changes in the public sphere worldwide.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
On October 24, 2022, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation held a briefing by the Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov.
During the briefing, it was announced that Ukraine is technically ready to create and deploy a "dirty bomb" that can be disguised as the improper operation of a Russian nuclear warhead. In other words, we are not just talking about blowing up the radioactive container but also a tactical nuclear warhead.
The Russian military named Great Britain as an accomplice of the nuclear provocation. The head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense announced the readiness of the Russian army to overcome the aftermath of the attack and to act in conditions of radioactive contamination.
Later on October 24, Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov had a telephone conversation with the Chief of the British Defense Staff Tony Radakin, "with whom he discussed" the situation related to the possible use of a "dirty bomb" by Ukraine.
Gerasimov also held talks with the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. Considering NATO's holding of strategic nuclear exercises and the Ukrainian conflict, it is easy to assume that using a nuclear warhead in Ukraine will lead not only to legitimising the weapon of mass destruction but a nuclear war itself.
Igor Kirillov - Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense of the Russian Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia spoke about a possible provocation as well. Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the information of the Russian Federation about the preparation of a "dirty bomb" by Kyiv was double-checked, and this "is not an empty accusation". In the evening of the same day, a letter was sent to the UN Secretary-General in connection with the provocation planned by Kyiv.
The fact that such serious and sensitive issues have been brought to the public makes the degree of concern rise. An implementation of a provocation, no matter by whose side, will lead to the most severe global consequences, even if it does not cause an immediate clash of nuclear powers.
More than two dozen countries in the world are connected to nuclear arms: countries with nuclear weapons, threshold countries capable of producing them in a short time, and countries with warhead inventories whose military is trained to use the most destructive weapons in the history of mankind.
It will be lifting the taboo as nuclear weapons will be used in a military conflict for the first time in 77 years. Moreover, such a nuclear strike could be justified if Russia is blamed for the Ukraine attack. Poland, Romania and France will not be able to refrain from participating in it and will have to be drawn into the funnel of the war at special conditions.
By overcoming the psychological barrier, the future conduct of hostilities will no longer be governed by any taboos. War and guerrilla conflicts will become unprecedentedly brutal as military and humanitarian law will cease to exist. The world will be on its way to a barbarisation of consciousness and overall collapse.
