Russia in Syria spreads a fable about "red mercury" allegedly bought in Ukraine – video
Russia is trying to sell the so-called "red mercury" in Syria, an allegedly dangerous chemical that they "bought" from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Another anti-Ukrainian information operation by the Kremlin was reported by in the Main Intelligence Directorate.
According to reports, Russian special services are offering a mysterious black box with two capsules that allegedly contain dangerous chemicals on the Syrian "black market of weapons". The Russian special services claim that the container they allegedly brought was purchased from "corrupt officials of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine" for "immediate sale.".
One of the capsules has the inscription: PU.9424 U, on the other – HG25 P307 9.99 U92.
"So, this time, in addition to the fictitious 'plutonium' [Pu – plutonium], the Russians are resuscitating an old Soviet fable about the so-called 'red mercury' [Hg – mercury], a substance that does not exist in nature," the intelligence noted.
In addition, along with fake "elements" for making a "nuclear bomb," the Russians in Syria offer ten capsules with allegedly "unknown toxic gases." Although, according to the intelligence, these are actually reagents for an old chemical intelligence device that Russian agents have already tried to sell before as part of an information operation against Ukraine.
"There is nothing new or original – the Russian special services act according to the patterns of their predecessors from the 20th century. Therefore, the old mythology of "red mercury" indicates an aggravation of the genre crisis among the Kremlin's special services... Ukraine is taking all measures, including through the military intelligence line, to disrupt these next hybrid plans of Russia," said intelligence representative Andriy Yusov.
"Red mercury" is an invention of the Soviet secret services, which was used for a large-scale disinformation campaign in the Middle East in the 80s and 90s of the last century. The legend was directed against foreign intelligence agencies and claimed that this modification of the chemical element could allegedly become a material for making a "terrible" bomb.
- The Netherlands reported that it has collected evidence of Russia's "widespread use" of chemical weapons on the front line in Ukraine. This includes the banned substance chloropicrin.
- The United Kingdom has imposed new sanctions against Russia over the use of chemical weapons. They affected two Russian citizens and one organization.