Russia’s disinformation dirty bomb and spy dramas in the Arctic
This week, as Rishi Sunak, Britain’s latest prime minister took office in London, NATO and Russia staged planned annual nuclear exercises, and Russian forces pounded more than forty Ukrainian villages. But in a busy news week, also competing for headlines and our attention was a fake claim made by Russia that Ukraine was about to set off a radioactive “dirty bomb.”
The roll-out of the dirty bomb story felt highly coordinated: the first mention of it appeared on Sunday morning, in an article on the state-run Ria Novosti website that claimed that the government in Kyiv was preparing to provoke Moscow by using a dirty bomb. RIA Novosti cited “credible sources in various countries, including Ukraine.” Almost immediately the story was picked up and spread across the Russian media and tweeted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russian Embassy accounts across the world. Meanwhile, piggybacking on the coverage, Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu got on the phone to discuss the matter with his counterparts in Europe, the United States and China.
Shoigu’s phone calls gave the dirty bomb story another lifecycle outside of Russia. As global media reported the “dirty bomb” story, compelling U.S. and EU officials to dismiss it as a fake, the drumbeats and smoke signals grew stronger. Until finally, on Wednesday night, Putin himself brought it up. Speaking at a security services meeting of six former Soviet states, Putin described Ukraine as a country that has “practically lost its sovereignty and is directly controlled by the US.” According to Putin, “Ukraine is used as a battering ram against Russia.”
“The plans to use a dirty bomb for provocations are also known,” Putin added.