Vladimir Putin’s top propagandist on state TV has warned that London could be the target of a nuclear attack if the Russian president sees fit.
And he might have a reason to soon.
Dmitry Kiselyov, 70, said that an increasingly ‘fed up’ Putin may resort to nukes if the UK allows Ukraine to launch Western-supplied missiles at military targets deep in Russian territory.
Kiselyov, the head of the Putin mouthpiece media group Rossiya Segodnya, said if the Britain government loosens restrictions on Storm Shadow missiles, the UK ‘could face a nuclear response’.
‘London would do well to remember that the British Isles have no missile defence system at all,’ he warned on his news programme, Vesti Nedeli.
‘And the decision on a nuclear response will be made by one man – Putin.
‘He has already been provoked so much by the West that at some point the Russian leader may get fed up.’
What is a Storm Shadow missile?
A Storm Shadow missile is about as intimidating as it sounds.
The hefty 1,300kg missiles are an Anglo-French joint development first fired in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
They have a range of up to 190 miles, or about the distance between London and Yorkshire.
Airbases, radar installations, communications hubs and port facilities are its go-to targets, according to news outlet AirforceTechnology.
Both Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and the French Air Force used the missile in the Gulf, Iraq and Libya.
Storm Shadow, the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) long-range cruise missile, has a sprawling range of up to 190 miles and could reach deep into Russia.
‘Britain itself will also become a legitimate target for our hypersonic Dagger [Kinzhal missiles] if its [Storm Shadows] are launched deep into Russia,’ Kiselyov said.
‘Daggers can be armed with both conventional and nuclear warheads.’
He added: ‘Putin has moved into action. And now it will not be possible to ignore the Kremlin.’
As the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, an increasingly tense – and impatient – West is grappling with how best to handle the war as an ally of Ukraine.
And some are showing it more than others. Norway is considering building a fence along the border with Russia to help secure the country. The 200km high fence would stretch 1,340km.
It is a measure that may become relevant, on all or parts of the border,’ justice minister Emilie Enger Mehl told Norway’s national broadcaster NRK.
Other Russian public figures have suggested that their country should use nuclear arms – even in the world of sports. Famous skier Yelena Välbe and former boxer Nikolai Valuyev, 51, now an MP, said it’s fine to bomb Britain.
Välbe, president of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation, said nuking the UK would help Russia be readmitted into the Olympics – somehow, we guess.
‘I think that if we threw some serious bomb in the centre of London, everything would have ended by now, and we’d be allowed everywhere,’ she said.
‘Russia’s struggle with the outside world has been going on for centuries. We’ve never been loved,’ she added.
‘Even when they pretended to let us in everywhere, they still didn’t like us. As I say, they’re always standing with a dagger behind their back.
‘I love it when the country is strong, and I suppose it’s our strength that irritates the whole world.’
While Valuyez said he hopes Britain will be engulfed by a tidal wave caused by a nuclear attack.
‘If you imagine that in any of the past six centuries, the British Isles suddenly sank into the ocean, then for the rest of the world, indeed, there would be fewer problems for a certain time,’ he said.
Whether Kyiv can use US, British and French-supplied long-range missiles on Russian military targets is something the nation has long asked for.
But Western leaders have shown only a few signs of budging, fearing that such a move would likely see the Kremlin retaliate with greater force against the US, UK and other allies with lethal attacks.
Some experts aren’t sure whether Ukraine using long-range weapons would even be able to dramatically shift conflict.
They’re also not sure if Putin would ever push the button, especially against Ukraine – the wind could easily blow radioactive material straight into Russia.
Though, from threatening to use ‘all available means’ to hefty missiles being paraded around in front of cameras, the Kremlin has made its stockpile clear.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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