Reznikov talks with Turkish, French and British counterparts after Shoigu’s lies
Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov (Photo:REUTERS/Yves Herman)
Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov has held talks with his French, British, and Turkish counterparts after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s false allegations about Ukraine’s supposed preparations of a false-flag “dirty bomb” attack against Russia, according to a tweet by the Ministry of Defense on Oct. 24.
Reznikov spoke with the Minister of the Armed Forces of France, Sébastien Lecornu, the UK Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, and also with Hulusi Akar, the Minister of Defense of Turkey.
“My colleagues informed me about their talks with the Ministry of Defense of Russia,” Reznikov said.
"I responded to all Russian fake allegations. This is an act of nuclear blackmail from Russia. Ukraine is open to any monitoring mission.”
Shoigu is said to have called his French, British and Turkish counterparts the previous day, on Oct. 23. He expressed “concern” to all three colleagues that Ukraine was allegedly preparing “provocations” with the use of a “dirty bomb.”
Shoigu is also said to have discussed this issue with the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, however, the details of the conversation were not specified.
The UK confirmed that Shoigu called Wallace and discussed the alleged “dirty bomb”, and said that Wallace pushed back against the allegations, and warned the Russian defense minister that such accusations should not be used as a pretext for further escalation.
The governments of the United States, France and the United Kingdom on Oct. 23 released a joint statement about their intentions to continue supporting Ukraine, discarding Russia’s “transparently false allegations” that Ukraine is allegedly preparing to use a “dirty bomb” on its own territory.
The Ukrainian government has denied Russia’s smears. Ukraine neither possesses the capability to create a dirty bomb, nor the desire to do so.
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