Russian state television has broadcast mocked-up clips of nuclear weapons destroying Ireland in response to the UK’s support for Ukraine amid the ongoing war there.
The clips were broadcast by the state-owned television channel Russia-1 and introduced by Dmitry Kiselyov, a close associate of Russian president Vladimir Putin and who is perceived as a propagandist for the Kremlin. Russia-1 is the most widely watched television channel in Russia.
As the Irish Times reports, Ireland is not mentioned directly in either of the two clips. In one segment, Mr Kiselyov speaks of an attack on the “British Isles” as footage plays of the islands of Ireland and Britain being wiped off the map by a nuclear weapon.
“It actually seems like they’re raving on the British Isles,” Mr Kiselyov says, after baselessly claiming UK prime minister Boris Johnson had threatened a nuclear strike on Russia.
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“Why threaten neverending Russia when you’re on an island which is, you know, is so small,” he says, according to an translation from journalist Francis Scarr, who monitors Russian media for the BBC.
“The island is so small that just one Sarmat missile is sufficient to sink it once and for all. Everything has been calculated already,” he claims, as a graphic shows a blast erasing Ireland and Britain from the map.
In a second segment, Mr Kiselyov talks of using a Poseidon nuclear underwater drone, an experimental Russian weapon, to “plunge the British Isles into the depths of the sea”.
“It approaches its target at a depth of 1km at a speed of 200km/h. There’s no way of stopping this underwater drone,” he tells viewers.
“The warhead has a yield of up to 100 megatons and will cause a gigantic tidal wave up to 500m high. Such a barrage alone also carries extreme doses of radiation,” he claims.
A computer graphic shows the missile exploding off the northeast coast of Co Donegal, setting off a tidal wave that wipes both islands from the map.
The radiation from the blast will turn whatever is left of the British Isles into a “radioactive desert”, he concludes.
The clips form part of one of several recent broadcasts threatening nuclear attack on the UK in retaliation for its support of Ukraine, which Moscow invaded on February 24th.
And another nuclear threat to the UK from Russian state TV’s Dmitry Kiselyov:
He says his country’s Poseidon nuclear underwater drone could cause a tsunami that would “plunge the British Isles into the depths of the sea” and turn them into a “radioactive desert” (with subs) pic.twitter.com/usElgqHeIG
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 1, 2022