Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has threatened to “respond accordingly” if Britain goes ahead with supplying tank ammunition containing depleted uranium to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Following talks in Moscow with China’s leader Xi Jinping, Putin raised concerns about the ammunition Britain was supplying to the government in Kyiv, along with a squadron of Challenger 2 battle tanks.
With Xi sitting beside him, Putin said: “It looks like the West indeed intends to fight Russia until the last Ukrainian. If that happens, Russia will respond accordingly, given that the collective West is starting to use weapons with a nuclear component.”
Tim Ripley, a defence analyst and author of “Little Green Men: The Inside Story of Russia’s New Military Power“ said it was, ”just the latest sort of twist in the propaganda wars.”
‘Good for Business’
Ripley said it was no coincidence Xi was sitting next to Putin when he made the remarks and he said the Russian president knew “bashing the Brits was good for business” and would appeal to Xi’s “feelgood spot.”
Putin’s comments followed an admission in the House of Lords on Monday that former British Army tanks which had been given to the Ukrainians would be equipped with depleted uranium ammunition.
Goldie replied: “Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour-piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium. Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”
The Ministry of Defence later accused Putin of spreading disinformation and said the ammunition had, “nothing to do with nuclear weapons or capabilities.”
An MoD spokesman told PA: “The British Army has used depleted uranium in its armour piercing shells for decades. It is a standard component and has nothing to do with nuclear weapons or capabilities. Russia knows this, but is deliberately trying to disinform.”
The MoD said independent research had assessed that any impact to personal health and the environment from the use of depleted uranium munitions was “likely to be low.”
Ripley said: “It is correct that they are not a nuclear bomb. But they are made by refining some of the waste products from uranium that’s used in nuclear power stations.”
He said: “Because this is one of the hardest metals known to man it’s really good for making penetrating warheads for anti-tank shells like the ones that are used in the Challenger tank. They have a conventional standard weapon that has a tungsten warhead that punches through the armour, but to go through these more heavily protected tanks they use this depleted uranium one which pushes through the less dense armour.”
Study Ruled Out Link to Gulf War Syndrome
But in 2021 a scientific study by researchers at the University of Portsmouth conclusively ruled it out as a cause.The symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome include fatigue, headaches, joint pain, indigestion, insomnia, dizziness, respiratory disorders and memory problems.
The Portsmouth researchers believed the condition was caused by exposure to a sarin nerve agent, which was present in caches of Iraqi chemical weapons.
Randall Parrish, a research professor of Isotope Geology at the University of Portsmouth, developed a method of detecting depleted uranium in urine from an exposure many years earlier. He tested 154 U.S. Gulf War veterans who have the illness and found no trace of depleted uranium.
Parrish said: “For decades, medics and scientists have been looking for the elusive cause of Gulf War illness. That depleted uranium is not and never was in the bodies of those who are ill at sufficient quantities to cause disease will surprise many, including sufferers who have, for 30 years, suspected depleted uranium may have contributed to their illness.”
But he went on to say: “Depleted uranium munitions were used in the conflict as an effective weapon to destroy Iraqi tanks and its use has littered Iraq and Kuwait with uranium contamination, potentially affecting local people.”
Parrish said: “Medical studies have shown that it can cause cancers and birth defects.”
Ripley said: “The issue is, it’s not going to explode and cause a nuclear detonation, but they may have been linked and are quite implicated in Gulf War Syndrome and pollution of the battlefield in Iraq. Because when they impact with a tank and the tank explodes and bits of the warheads are shattered they create deposits of the uranium deposit which, if someone breathes them, there is a health risk.”
“It’s not an immediate risk, but it’s a long-term risk to health from the pollution of the battlefield,” he added.
Ripley said it may seem surprising that the Ukrainians were happy to deploy depleted uranium weapons on their own territory but he said they were in a desperate fight. He said, “It is considered the most effective anti-tank shell that you can get.”
He said Putin’s “sinister” threat could mean anything from a cyber-attack to more aggressive attacks on British drones or ships in the Black Sea or even the seizure of British citizens in Moscow on trumped-up charges.
