Russia would be able to destroy the US in “one hour,” the editor of Russian broadcaster RT has said, in the latest chilling threat from the country’s state-controlled media as the conflict in Ukraine grinds on.
“We are the only country in the world that can destroy the United States in one hour,” prominent Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan said in a clip shared by X account @NOELreports from a TV broadcast.
It isn’t clear when the broadcast aired. Russia’s foreign ministry has been approached for comment.
Russian state television has repeatedly alluded to a nuclear confrontation between Moscow and Washington, one of Ukraine’s key allies throughout Russia’s invasion.
Throughout the almost two years of war, relations between the US and Russia have been strained, and there appears to be little prospect of an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv to end the fighting.
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Three years later, a Russian politician appearing on state media said the country would need only four missiles to wipe out the US’s East and West coasts.
Last year, a Russian political commentator also said that America could be caught “in the crosshairs” of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, should it escalate to a nuclear war.
Midway through last month, former Russian President and deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned that Ukrainian attacks on missile launch sites within Russian territory carried out using US or NATO-supplied weapons could spark a nuclear response from Moscow.
In February, state TV host Vladimir Solovyov, a prominent voice in the Kremlin-backed media, said Russia should strike the headquarters of intergovernmental military alliance NATO, which has supported Kyiv’s efforts to repel Putin’s invading forces. An attack of the kind he suggested would have catastrophic consequences and likely provoke a wider war.
