Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin floated the idea of launching nuclear strikes on NATO members, including the United States, during a recent state-run TV show - with one saying that the only question is which countries and cities to target.
Pro-Putin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov raised the specter of nuclear war during an episode of his state-run television show, an excerpt of which was posted Friday to social media by Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis.
"Pundits on Vladimir Solovyov's show pontificated which Western cities should be the first to be targeted with nuclear strikes. Some of their top choices: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Hamburg, Munich or Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the United States in general," Davis wrote in a post on X, summarizing the segment.
Solovyov began the clip ranting about France and the West at large, according to English subtitles.
"Why do I think we should carry out a strike against the West?" Solovyov asked. "Because I can see right through them."
Solovyov then turned to guest Andrey Sidorov, deputy dean of world politics at the Moscow State University, who echoed the rhetoric, the clip shows.
"The issue is not whether or not to use nuclear weapons," Sidorov said. "The issue is against whom to use them."
Sidorov named France, Great Britain, Germany and Poland, but said that they are "not the main issue."
"There is another country that presents a danger which stands behind all of the aforementioned ones," he said. "I mean the United States. Unlike other countries you mentioned, it can present an existential threat to Russia."
The segment went on to show members of the panel laughing about the prospect of nuclear war, suggesting an audience vote on a target and dismissing the German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen as "small, not worth a missile."
The threat of nuclear escalation has loomed large over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched in 2022.
Radek Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, warned earlier this week that Western reluctance to continue supplying Ukraine's military could lead to a nuclear arms race.
