Representatives of Great Britain and France at a meeting of the UN Security Council denied a statement spread by the Russian authorities about their countries' alleged readiness to hand over a “nuclear bomb” to Kyiv. Previously, the British government and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also rejected these Kremlin claims.
The corresponding statements by the British and French permanent representatives were made during a meeting of the UN Security Council, which was broadcast by Public.
Russia's representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, repeated the Russian authorities' claims that they are allegedly preparing to transfer a “nuclear bomb” to Ukraine.
For his part, the UK's junior minister for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, called these statements “a blatant lie.”
“The accusation made by the representative of the Russian Federation is a blatant lie. He says that we have lost touch with reality. In fact, Russia has lost touch with reality,” the British permanent representative said.
According to him, this is another example of disinformation and an attempt to divert attention from the continuation of unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.
Doughty stressed that London adheres to its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and does not and will not supply Ukraine with nuclear weapons or related technologies.
In turn, France's UN representative Jerome Bonnafont also denied Russia's statements, calling them “gross disinformation,” noting that they “have no factual basis.”
According to him, Paris will never violate the provisions of the Treaty and its relevant obligations.
“It is precisely Russia that is violating, threatening nuclear weapons for four years, hiding its proliferation maneuvers, and supporting the nuclear programs of the DPRK and Iran, the civilian nature of which has never been proven,” the permanent representative added.
Reaction of the British government and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
The day before, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Russia's claims about a nuclear and “dirty bomb” are false, and that Moscow is thus trying to divert attention from its crimes.
“This is a clear attempt by Vladimir Putin to divert attention from his terrible actions in Ukraine. There is no truth to this… We will continue our efforts to secure a just and lasting peace,” Sky News quoted him as saying.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi, in a comment to Reuters, called these Russian statements “absurd.”
“For the record: Ukraine has already denied such absurd statements by Russia many times, and we are officially denying them again,” he said.
Russia's statement about the “nuclear bomb”
On February 24, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service announced that London and Paris were allegedly “actively working” on a secret transfer of nuclear weapons to Kyiv – atomic or so-called “dirty bombs.” According to the agency, the supply should be disguised in such a way that the appearance of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would appear to be “the result of development by Ukrainians themselves.”
Kremlin President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov called this information “extremely important,” saying it posed a threat to the entire non-proliferation regime and Moscow would take it into account during further negotiations.
Speaking at the FSB board, Putin recalled the consequences of attempts to “use the nuclear component,” emphasizing that “Russia's opponents understand what this could end up with.”