JAKARTA - Russia plans to bring the issue of Ukraine's planned 'dirty bomb' attack to the UN Security Council, urging the Secretary-General of the United Nations to do everything he can to "prevent this heinous crime from happening."
With Ukrainian troops advancing to Russia's occupied Kherson strategic province, top Russian officials called Western counterparts on Sunday and Monday to let them know that Moscow suspects Ukraine is planning to use the so-called 'difficult bomb' mixed with nuclear material.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the allegations, saying Russia was planning such an attack by blaming Ukraine. Western countries also rejected Russia's accusations as a pretext to intensify the eight-month war, which began in February when Russian troops invaded neighboring Ukraine.
"We will regard the use of a "dirty bomb" by the Kyiv regime as an act of nuclear terrorism," Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia wrote in a letter, seen by Reuters, told Guterres and the Security Council on Monday, as reported October 25.
"We urge Western countries to use their influence on the regime in Kyiv to abandon its dangerous plans that threaten international peace and security," he wrote. "We ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to do everything in its power to prevent this heinous crime from happening," Nebenzia continued.
Russia has told Security Council members it will raise the issue during a closed meeting on Tuesday, diplomats said.
Earlier on Monday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: "All parties must avoid any action that could lead to miscalculation and escalation of what has become a devastating conflict."
The UN Security Council has met dozens of times in Ukraine but cannot take meaningful action because Russia is a veto force, along with the United States, China, Britain, and France.
Russia has been diplomatically isolated in the world body. Earlier this month three-quarters of the 193 members of the General Assembly, 143 countries, voted to condemn Russia's "illegal annexation efforts" against four partially occupied territories in Ukraine, asking all countries not to recognize the move.
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