Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu recently warned that his country's special military operation in Ukraine was rapidly deteriorating and trending towards "uncontrolled escalation."
Shoigu made this statement during calls to French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu and Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar. Shoigu told Lecornu that Moscow had concerns Ukraine could use a "dirty bomb" in an attempt to turn the tide of the conflict, or a conventional weapon laced with nuclear materials. (Related: Dirty bomb false flag event to IGNITE World War with Russia, but Europe and USA don't have enough functioning INDUSTRY to win a war.)
Lecornu confirmed that he and Shoigu spoke. He said that France reaffirmed to Russia its desire for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
In response to Shoigu's claims regarding a possible dirty bomb, Lecornu noted that France refuses to get drawn into any form of escalation in the conflict in Ukraine, especially if such an escalation involves the use of nuclear weapons.
Ukrainian officials immediately denied that the country is planning to use a dirty bomb against Russian forces.
"Russian lies about Ukraine allegedly planning to use a 'dirty bomb' are as absurd as they are dangerous," said Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba.
In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky followed this up by claiming that only Russia is capable of using nuclear weapons in Europe.
"If anyone can use nuclear weapons in this part of Europe, it can only be one source, and that source is the one that has ordered comrade Shoigu to telephone here or there," said Zelensky. "The world should react as harshly as possible."
Shoigu working overtime to de-escalate conflict
Shoigu has been contacting North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense ministers recently amid growing concerns that Western support for Ukraine would escalate the conflict.
In addition to the French and Turkish defense ministers, Shoigu has also spoken with British Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace and American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
In all of the calls, Shoigu reiterated his concerns about possible Ukrainian provocations using a dirty bomb. Wallace refuted these claims, reaffirming the United Kingdom's support for Ukraine.
"The Defense Secretary refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation," said the British Defense Ministry in a statement.
Shoigu's call to Austin was his second within three days. The last time they spoke was before the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in late February.
Austin "rejected any pretext for Russian escalation" and "reaffirmed the value of continued communication," according to the Pentagon's readout of the call.
Other major American institutions have rejected Shoigu's allegations. Some even claim that Moscow might stage false flag attacks and then blame them on Kyiv.
In a statement, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson rejected Shoigu's allegations as "transparently false."
"The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation," she said.
Despite Shoigu's attempts to reach out with his major counterparts within NATO, there was no indication from the Kremlin that the conversations produced any positive results. However, the calls did show that Russia and members of the U.S.-led NATO are actively maintaining clear channels of communication at a time when the world is concerned about a possible nuclear escalation due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that, if his country is backed into a corner by the West, he would be willing to use any available means to defend Russia's territorial integrity. This includes former Ukrainian territory that recently voted to join the Russian Federation.
Learn more about the worsening situation in Ukraine at WWIII.news.
Watch this clip from Fox Business featuring former Army Special Ops intel analyst Brett Velicovich, who said the war in Ukraine isn't going to end anytime soon.
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