Editing Nuclear terrorism (section)

=== Russia ===
{{main|Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko|Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant crisis}}

The [[Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko|assassination of Alexander Litvinenko]] by Russian state agents in 2006 using the radioactive polonium was described as the beginning of an era of nuclear terrorism.<ref>"Ushering in the era of nuclear terrorism", by Patterson, Andrew J. MD, PhD, ''Critical Care Medicine'', v. 35, p. 953-954, 2007.</ref><ref>"Beyond the Dirty Bomb: Re-thinking Radiological Terror", by James M. Acton; M. Brooke Rogers; Peter D. Zimmerman, {{doi|10.1080/00396330701564760}}, ''Survival'', Volume 49, Issue 3 September 2007, pp. 151 – 168</ref><ref name="Bellona">[https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/radioactive-waste-and-spent-nuclear-fuel/2006-12-radiological-terrorism-soft-killers Radiological Terrorism: 'Soft Killers'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930101432/https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/radioactive-waste-and-spent-nuclear-fuel/2006-12-radiological-terrorism-soft-killers |date=2023-09-30 }} by Morten Bremer Mærli, [[Bellona Foundation]]</ref>

During the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]], [[Russian Armed Forces|Russian troops]] engaged in the [[Siege of Enerhodar|Battle of Enerhodar]] began shelling the [[Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant]] on March 3, 2022. Units 2 and 3 were put into an emergency safe mode, while Unit 4 remained in operation due to being the furthest from the artillery firing range. [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine)|Ukrainian Foreign Minister]] [[Dmytro Kuleba]] had warned that potential damage from a Russian attack would be "ten times larger than [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl]]".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-04/what-we-know-about-ukraine-s-shelled-nuclear-plant-quicktake | title=What We Know About Ukraine's Shelled Nuclear Plant | newspaper=Bloomberg.com | date=4 March 2022 | access-date=2022-03-04 | archive-date=2022-04-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420054657/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-04/what-we-know-about-ukraine-s-shelled-nuclear-plant-quicktake | url-status=live }}</ref> The attack caused significant damage to the plant, including a fire breaking out near Unit 1, which was under maintenance at the time. The fire was contained in the following morning. The attack was condemned by many within the international community, including being described as nuclear terrorism by [[Lithuania]]n [[Gitanas Nauseda|President Nauseda]], "incredible reckless and dangerous" by [[List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nations|US Ambassador to the UN]] [[Linda Thomas-Greenfield]], and a war crime by [[Secretary General of NATO]] [[Jens Stoltenberg]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-04/russia-accused-of-nuclear-terrorism-as-world-looks-on-aghast | title=Russia Accused of Nuclear Terrorism as World Looks on Aghast | newspaper=Bloomberg.com | date=4 March 2022 | access-date=2022-03-04 | archive-date=2022-07-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701062550/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-04/russia-accused-of-nuclear-terrorism-as-world-looks-on-aghast | url-status=live }}</ref>

In August 2022 [[Dmitry Medvedev]] published a comment warning that "accidents can happen at European nuclear plants too", which was widely interpreted as a concealed threat.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-08-12 |title='Accidents can happen at European nuclear plants too,' Russian ex-president says |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/accidents-can-happen-european-nuclear-plants-too-russian-ex-president-says-2022-08-12/ |access-date=2022-09-22 |archive-date=2022-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922091713/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/accidents-can-happen-european-nuclear-plants-too-russian-ex-president-says-2022-08-12/ |url-status=live }}</ref>