Amid growing concerns over the possibility of the war in Ukraine spilling over into a nuclear confrontation, prominent Russian politicians and media figures have issued a stark warning to one of Kyiv’s key NATO allies.
During a recent airing of Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, a Russian talk show that features prominent political figures and commentators, the eponymous host discussed a threatening Sunday Telegram post from Dmitry Medvedev.
Medvedev, who previously served as Russia’s president and prime minister, said: “We need to solve the problem at its root and immediately sink the damned island of Anglo-Saxon dogs.” His comments were in reference to the suggestion, made in late September by Russian Skier Elena Vyalbe, of “throw[ing] a serious bomb into the center of London,” after the International Biathlon Union upheld a ban on Russian athletes.
“I can imagine English newspapers tomorrow,” Solovyov said. “They will be excellent.”
Vladimir Solovyov speaks during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. He this week endorsed calls by Dmitry Medvedev to “sink” the United Kingdom.
Ramil Sitdikov/Sputnik via AP
State Duma member Andrey Gurulyov responded by stating that the West is attempting “to destroy” Russia with its actions in Ukraine, which he described as “another Great Patriotic War”—a term in Russia used to refer to the Soviet Union’s conflict with Nazi Germany.
“You get together and twice during every century [and] you try to destroy us,” Solovyov added. “You’re not getting it, so we’ll have to get you.”
Solovyov, an outspoken supporter of President Vladimir Putin, has issued several similar warnings against Ukraine’s allies. During a broadcast in March, following a guest’s suggestion that members of the Russian elite would be tried following the war, Solovyov said: “Who is going to judge us?”
When the guest, columnist Vladimir Kornilov, answered: “The British,” Solovyov responded: “The country that, by that point in time, will be buried under a radioactive wave?”
In mid-September, Solovyov also claimed that Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region had given Vladimir Putin a “basis to start a nuclear war.”
Vladimir Putin and TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov during an awards ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 25, 2013. Solovyov has said Britain will soon be “under a radioactive wave.”
Mikhail Metzel/STR/AFP via Getty Images
The TV host’s ominous warnings echo those made by more prominent political figures, and come amid increasing concerns over escalation in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
In late September, Putin announced that his country would be reassessing its deterrence policy, and warned that provocations by Ukraine and its allies could cross Moscow’s red line on the use of nuclear weapons.
These updated guidelines, the president said, would consider “aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, as their joint attack on the Russian Federation.”
The news was shared by Medvedev, who on Telegram warned that the “neo-Nazi” Kyiv government, aided by the U.S. and other allies, was “pushing the world toward a nuclear catastrophe.”
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