Russian State TV has boasted they could nuke and wipe out major European cities in just 200 seconds through a terrifying simulation.
State propaganda is a tool Vladimir Putin has used extensively throughout his time in charge of Russia and it has been employed extensively following his invasion of Ukraine.
Putin claims Russian troops are conducting a ‘special military operation’ to ‘denazify’ Ukraine, a view not shared by the large majority of the rest of the international community.
Russian TV Runs Terrifying Simulation Of Them Nuking Europe (Alamy/Russian State TV)
State propaganda is something Vladimir Putin has used extensively during his invasion of Ukraine. Credit: Alamy
Many nations have placed tough sanctions on Russia in retaliation for their invasion and have supplied the Ukrainian military with weapons to continue the fight against Putin.
As the conflict continues, there are concerns that Putin could employ nuclear weapons and he has previously bragged about new hypersonic missiles which could wipe out other countries.
And now, Russian state TV’s 60 Minutes programme announced the country had the capability to strike London, Paris and Berlin with nuclear weapons that would leave ‘no survivors’.
Playing a terrifying simulation of what a nuclear strike on Europe would look like, they estimated missiles launched from Kaliningrad, Russia’s enclave on the Baltic Sea, would strike Berlin in 106 seconds, Paris in 200 seconds and London in 202 seconds.
State propaganda is something Vladimir Putin has used extensively during his invasion of Ukraine. Credit: Alamy
Russian politician Aleksey Zhuravlyov said they would only need to fire ‘one Sarmat missile and that’s it, the British Isles are no more’.
One of the show’s hosts pointed out that since the UK also had nuclear weapons, the threat of a retaliatory strike meant ‘no one will survive in this war’.
Since both the UK and France have nuclear arsenals and are part of the NATO alliance a strike on them risks a retaliatory nuclear strike and would bring the US into the conflict.
War Is Coming To Europe, Russian TV Presenter Says
Russian television has often discussed the idea of war spreading beyond just Ukraine, promoting the idea of an “inevitable” war against “Europe and the world.” Russian channels have been known for vitriolic rhetoric being broadcast to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Thursday’s Channel One program 60 Minutes, Aleksey Zhuravlyov, who is chairman of the nationalist Rodina political party, said “one Sarmat missile and the British Isles will be no more.”
Russian nuclear missile rolls along Red Square on June 24, 2020 in Moscow, Russia. On April 28, 2022, a Russian TV panel on Channel One’s 60 Minutes program discussed the prospect of a nuclear weapon attack on Europe.
Russian nuclear missile
A Russian nuclear missile in Red Square on June 24, 2020 in Moscow, Russia. On April 28, 2022, a Russian TV panel on Channel One’s “60 Minutes” program discussed the prospect of a nuclear weapon attack on Europe.
After co-host Olga Skabeyeva interrupted Zhuravlyov by saying, “but we are serious people,” the politician countered by saying, “and I am saying this seriously.”
Last week, Russia test-fired the nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic Sarmat missile, also known as Satan II which Vladimir Putin said would make Moscow’s foreign adversaries “think twice.”
Zhuravlyov raised the subject of the rocket following a portion that incorporated a clasp from British TV. In it, U.K. Military Minister James Heappey alluded to London’s tactical help for Kyiv to assist it with battling the Russian intrusion.
Heappey likewise said for the current week that Ukrainian military strikes to upset supply lines in Russia were a “genuine” part of war. Moscow has charged the U.K. of “inciting” Ukraine into going after Russian domain.
“They’re blaming us for state psychological warfare,” Zhuravlyov said. The other host, Evgeny Popov called attention to that the U.K. likewise has atomic weapons and that “nobody will make due in this conflict.”
Popov said: “When you propose a hit with a Sarmat, do you comprehend that nobody will get by? Nobody in the world.”
Zhuravlyov appeared to be OK with that possibility, saying “we’ll begin with a clean canvas.”
Zhuravlyov proceeded: “Since we are discussing these weapons, the inquiry is could they at any point destroy it? The rocket can’t be captured, their capacities are restricted.”
Skabeyeva then showed up, posting the time it would take for the rocket to go from the Russian area of Kaliningrad to Berlin, Paris and the British capital, as a guide realistic showed up on the screen.
“You’re interested in London,” she said, which the Sarmat would take “202 seconds” to reach.
Zhuravlyov continued: “They need to be shown this picture…count the seconds can you make it?
“Let them think about it. Get a stopwatch, count 200 seconds. That’s how you talk to them, they don’t understand anything else.”
Newsweek has contacted the British, French and German foreign ministries for comment.
The clip was tweeted by journalist and Russian media watcher Julia Davis, who wrote that Russia “keeps threatening nuclear strikes against Western nations, desperately trying to deter them from continuing to help Ukraine.
“On a side note, this is the first state TV host who doesn’t seem to be eager to die for the Motherland, arguing with a trigger-happy lawmaker,” Davis added.
Skabeyeva has been one of the main faces on Russian state television whose comments have pointed to an escalation in hostilities. This week she said “either we lose in Ukraine, or the Third World War starts. I think World War III is more realistic.”
Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons in what is the largest stockpile of nukes in the world with the Americans a close second, France and the UK both have fewer than 300 nuclear missiles.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, around a third of their nuclear arsenal was deployed in Ukraine.
According to Sky News, the newly independent Ukraine agreed in 1994 to give up their nukes in exchange for promises from Russia not to violate global security.