NATO rejects Russian complaints on UK uranium ammo

NATO rejects Russian complaints on UK uranium ammo
by AFP Staff Writers
Eindhoven, Netherlands (AFP) March 23, 2023

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday dismissed Russian complaints about Britain's announcement that it will send Ukraine ammunition containing depleted uranium.

Moscow on Wednesday warned of a "serious" escalation of the Ukraine crisis if London gives Kyiv the armour piercing rounds.

"NATO allies are following international rules and international law in everything they do in their support for Ukraine," Stoltenberg told AFP when asked about the British plans and Russian complaints.

"The dangerous thing is the war, which is taking thousands of lives," he said at the operational launch of a new fleet of NATO-EU air-refuelling planes at a Dutch airbase.

"The most important thing that can be done to reduce risks is for President Putin to stop the war."

British junior defence minister Annabel Goldie confirmed on Monday that the UK would provide Ukraine with the depleted uranium rounds. The heaviness of the metal allows shells to more easily penetrate steel.

- 'Difficult situation' -

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that their use would be a "step towards a further escalation, and a serious one at that".

Lavrov added that it would "sharply reduce" Ukraine's ability to "produce high-quality, uncontaminated food".

The United States on Wednesday dismissed what it called Moscow's "strawman" argument.

The NATO secretary general meanwhile said there was still a "difficult situation" around the frontline town of Bakhmut, where Kyiv on Thursday threatened an impending counterattack.

"Wars are by nature unpredictable. What we see in Bakhmut is heavy fighting and (a) difficult situation," said Stoltenberg.

But he said NATO equipment and training for Ukraine was "enabling them to make advances and new gains".

Russia will 'react' if UK supplies uranium ammo to Kyiv: Putin
Moscow (AFP) March 21, 2023 - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow would be "forced to react" if Britain gives Ukraine military supplies, including armour piercing ammunition which contains depleted uranium.

"The United Kingdom... announced not only the supply of tanks to Ukraine, but also shells with depleted uranium. If this happens, Russia will be forced to react," Putin told reporters after talks at the Kremlin with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Putin was reacting to a written response by a UK defence minister, Annabel Goldie, who was asked whether "any of the ammunition currently being supplied to Ukraine contains depleted uranium".

She responded on Monday that "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."

Depleted uranium is a by-product of the nuclear enriching process used to make nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. It is around 60 percent as radioactive as natural uranium.

Its heaviness lends itself for use in armour piercing rounds as it helps them easily penetrate steel.

But the United Nations Environment Program has described it as a "chemically and radiologically toxic heavy metal."

Anti-nuclear organisation CND condemned the decision to send the ammunition, calling it an "additional environmental and health disaster for those living through the conflict" as toxic or radioactive dust can be released on impact.

"CND has repeatedly called for the UK government to place an immediate moratorium on the use of depleted uranium weapons and to fund long-term studies into their health and environmental impacts," said CND general secretary Kate Hudson.

The munitions were used in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq, and were suspected of being a possible cause of "Gulf War syndrome," a collection of debilitating symptoms suffered by veterans of the 1990-91 war.

Researchers from the UK's University of Portsmouth tested sufferers to examine levels of residual depleted uranium in their bodies and say their 2021 study "conclusively" proved that none of them were exposed to significant amounts of depleted uranium.