PARIS, Feb 26 (Reuters) – France hit back on Thursday over what it called baseless Russian accusations that Ukraine was seeking a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb with help from London or Paris, calling it the latest example of Russian disinformation.
In a statement published on the fourth anniversary of the war, Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service said Britain and France believed that Ukraine would be able to secure more favourable terms if Kyiv possessed “a nuclear bomb, or at least a so-called ‘dirty bomb'”. It did not include documentary evidence to back its assertion.
“This baseless statement from the SVR has been picked up by various Russian propaganda outlets on X and by some foreign news agencies,” Olivia Penichou, communications director at the French Ministry of Defence, told reporters on Thursday.
“The Russian Federation frequently resorts to disinformation to foster a climate of mistrust toward the actions taken by France and its partners in support of Ukraine. This latest attempt is a perfect illustration of that.”
Penichou added that Paris had always honoured its international commitments, particularly those related to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
France’s foreign ministry earlier in the week said it did not deem it worthy of responding to such blatant disinformation.
Its English-language @frenchresponse X handle posted several times mockingly to dismiss the Russian claims, including: “Russia, embarrassingly entering #year5 of their 3 day war against Ukraine: ‘please look this way ! FR & UK deterrence is a threat !'”
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Peter Graff)
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