Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke on the phone on Sunday with his American, French, British and Turkish counterparts to discuss the conflict in Ukraine.
Ever since the start of theRussian offensive in Ukraine at the end of February, the Russian Defense Minister had never had so many exchanges with his counterparts in a single day. Sergei Shoigu expressed his fears to his Turkish and French counterparts and denounced the situation in Ukraine ” which has a tendency to escalate uncontrollably “, according to the press release of the Russian army. He also shared ” his concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a “dirty bomb” added the same source.
The Russian minister made the same remarks to the British Minister of Defense, in a rare telephone conversation between London and Moscow. Ben Wallace, the British minister, has ” refuted Russian claims that Western countries were facilitating an escalation of the war in Ukraine.
The French Ministry of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, confirmed for his part in a press release that the Russian fear of a ” “dirty bomb” strike by Ukrainians on their territory, to blame Russia “. Credible sources in the eyes of the Russian news agencies indeed warn that kyiv could detonate such a device on its territory to accuse Moscow of using weapons of mass destruction within the framework of its military campaign.
Pretext for an escalation
Washington, for its part, called the Russian findings ” clearly false “, warning Moscow of any attempt to” use this allegation as a pretext for an escalation “. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also rejecting these accusations, assured that they demonstrated that Russia was preparing “ a new stage in climbing “, and that the world had to answer it” as hard as possible “.
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Sergei Shoigu also spoke with Lloyd Austin, the head of the Pentagon. It is their second conversation since Friday and their third since the beginning of the conflict. This time, the Russian statement reporting on the interview did not mention the alleged use of a “dirty bomb” by the Ukrainians.
These discussions come as Russia faces a massive Ukrainian counter-offensive and denounces a “ considerable increase » Ukrainian fire on several Russian border regions.
(With AFP)