The FSB announced the arrest of five people who tried to take a kilogram of radioactive cesium-137 abroad. It is reported by RIA Novosti.
The special service calls these people members of a criminal group "acting under the coordination of a citizen of Ukraine" and "in the interests of a foreign customer."
It is alleged that the exported cesium was planned to be used "to the detriment of Russian interests in the NVO zone", in particular, "for performances using weapons of mass destruction in order to discredit Russia."
Russia has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is allegedly preparing provocations with the use of a "dirty bomb". Last October, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called colleagues from France, Turkey, Britain and the United States and told them about the threat of a "dirty bomb" that Ukraine allegedly plans to detonate.
“The purpose of the provocation is to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction in the Ukrainian theater of operations, and thereby launch a powerful anti-Russian campaign in the world aimed at undermining confidence in Moscow,” RIA Novosti reported at the time. The next day, Shoigu's statement was called a lie in the United States, Great Britain and France.