U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Calls Putin's Bluff, No Evidence of 'Dirty Bomb'

Inspectors with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency did not find any indications of undeclared nuclear activity in Ukraine, contradicting Russia's allegation that the war-torn country was planning to use a "dirty bomb" on its own territory.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Thursday that inspectors had completed in-field verification activities at three sites in Ukraine: the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kyiv, Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in Zhovti Kody and Production Association Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant in Dnipro.

Ukraine had requested that the IAEA inspect the sites after Russia accused it last month of planning to deploy a dirty bomb within its borders and blame the attack on Russia. On Monday, Grossi said that the IAEA inspectors had started their examination of the locations where Russia alleged a dirty bomb might be in production.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a dirty bomb is a mix of explosives and radioactive powder or pellets. Unlike a nuclear weapon or improvised nuclear device, a dirty bomb cannot create an atomic blast.

The IAEA's inspections over the past few days did not turn up "any indications of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at the locations," the agency said. Inspectors also collected environmental samples, which can provide information about current and past activities related to handling nuclear materials, that the IAEA will analyze at its laboratories. Grossi said that the IAEA will release the environmental sampling results as soon as possible.

Ukraine and Western officials have strongly pushed back against Russia's dirty bomb claim. In a joint statement on October 23, the foreign ministers of France, the U.K. and the U.S. said that they had spoken directly with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and "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," the statement added. "We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia."

Jonathan Katz, director of Democracy Initiatives and a senior fellow with the Washington D.C.-based German Marshall Fund, told Newsweek that the peddling of the dirty bomb allegation sounds like a false-flag effort in which "Russia says somebody else is going to do something and then in actuality it's Russia that may be the one preparing to carry out this act.

"This is like hitting repeat on the Russian playbook of disinformation," he added.

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.