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> Russia conducted its first major nuclear drills since the start of its war on Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin made unfounded claims that Kyiv was seeking to develop a “dirty bomb”, as Moscow continued to ramp up the rhetoric over possible nuclear use in the conflict.

> The Russian armed forces on Wednesday practised what defence minister Sergei Shoigu called a “mass nuclear strike with strategic attack forces in response to a nuclear attack by our adversary”, as Putin monitored events via videoconference from the Kremlin.

> Addressing security chiefs from a group of ex-Soviet countries after the exercises, Putin said “geopolitical confrontation has sharply increased” and accused the US of using Ukraine as a “battering ram” against Russia.

> He repeated claims, without providing evidence, that the US had made Ukraine a “test site for military biological experiments”, complaining that the west was “pumping it up with weapons” and ignoring “provocations” using a dirty bomb, a conventional explosive carrying radioactive material.

  >President Vladimir Putin made unfounded claims that Kyiv was seeking to develop a “dirty bomb”...
How does the FT know they claims are 'unfounded'? Are they privvy to secret top level discussions on the Ukrainian side? Bit of a lapse in security, if they are.