Five people arrested
FSB: Prevented Ukrainian nuclear smuggling
06/23/2023, 12:46 p.m
The FSB has arrested five people who allegedly wanted to buy radioactive material and take it abroad to harm Russia in a staged incident. Those arrested are said to have confessed.
According to the Russian domestic secret service FSB, it prevented the smuggling of radioactive material to a Ukrainian client. The Russian news agency Tass quoted the FSB as saying that five people had been arrested who wanted to buy a kilogram of cesium-137 for 3.5 million US dollars on behalf of a Ukrainian.
The secret service therefore alleges that the material was to be taken out of the country in order to stage an incident with alleged weapons of mass destruction intended to discredit Russia. Those arrested have already confessed. No further details were given. There was initially no comment from Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of planning a nuclear-tipped “dirty bomb” attack on Russia. Ukraine has denied these allegations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said that the secret service had received information that Russia was considering an attack on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was intended to release radioactivity.
Moscow’s leadership dismissed this as a lie, claiming in return that Ukraine wanted to shell and recapture the Russian-held nuclear power plant. The claims cannot be independently verified.