Russian Health Watchdog Refutes Claims About Spike in Radiation in Country

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The radiation level across Russia is stable, the national public health watchdog (Rospotrebnadzor) stated on Monday, thus refuting foreign media reports about a dip in radiation in Northern Europe originating from Russia.

"Measurements of the background gamma level conducted by Rospotrebnadzor in the federal subjects of the Russian Federation show its stability", the watchdog said on Monday.

Other Russian federal agencies in charge of monitoring the background radiation have not detected any spike either, according to the watchdog.

Late last week, media reports emerged saying that authorities in Sweden, Norway and Finland have detected a slight increase in radioactive isotopes concentration in the atmosphere over Northern Europe. The data of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment was claimed to have shown that the radionuclides originated from Russia, and that this could be explained by depressurisation at a nuclear power plant. The Dutch agency later refuted the reports, saying that they have been unable to identify a country of origin of the radiation.