Vladimir Putin‘s leading TV attack dog has called for a missile strike on Rishi Sunak after the British Prime Minister called for stockpiled munitions to be handed to Ukraine to destroy invading Russian tanks.
Sunak’s demand plainly upset Moscow, because propagandist Vladimir Solovyov immediately called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to ‘knock on the door’ with a hypersonic missile.
The latest tirade against the UK from the Russian president’s chief propagandist was featured of a nightly pro-war show on state TV channel Rossiya 1.
He and his fellow commentators regularly rant against Russia’s enemies, with the United Kingdom in particular coming under fire from Solovyov.
Last week, regarding the possibility of the British Government supplying Kyiv with long-range missiles that could strike deep into Russian-controlled Crimea, Solovyov said London ‘will be turned to dust’. This week, his attention turned to Mr Sunak.
Vladimir Putin’s leading TV attack dog Vladimir Solovyov (pictured) has called for a missile strike on Rishi Sunak after the British Prime Minister called for stockpiled munitions to be handed to Ukraine to destroy invading Russian tanks
Mr Sunak is seen saying in the footage playing on Russian TV (pictured): ‘As far as ammunition stocks are concerned, the message I want to get across is to remember what we need these stockpiles for. Does any of this stockpile help in destroying Russian tanks?’
‘Listen to what this [Rishi] Sunak is saying – a man no-one voted for,’ said the prime time presenter, before playing a clip of the British premier.
‘As far as ammunition stocks are concerned, the message I want to get across is to remember what we need these stockpiles for,’ Mr Sunak is seen saying in the footage. ‘Does any of this stockpile help in destroying Russian tanks?’
Solovyov then demanded Russia’s new-age nuclear-capable Kinzhal – or Dagger – hypersonic missile should be launched against Britain in response.
He ranted: ‘Aren’t they supposed to be used to destroy morons like you in decision-making centres? ‘So that you don’t make the people of London suffer, who, by the way, never chose you.
‘And just from this logic that if there are British weapons to kill the Russians…we have produced hypersonic missiles. ‘A lot of them.
‘Does not it occur to you that it is possible to knock on your door [and strike Britain]?And not just with a little finger.’ Sunak’s words showed the West had ‘gone completely mad. They are just idiots,’ said Solovyov.
Close Putin crony Sergey Chemezov, head of state corporation Rostec, recently announced a major increase in Kinzhal production.
‘Since February, the volume of military production has grown significantly – in some cases by more than 50 times,’ said Chemezov, who spied in the KGB alongside Putin in the Cold War. ‘This primarily concerns ammunition,’ he said.
‘[Kinzhal] has been on the stream for a long time. We just didn’t require as much as….now. Therefore, we are now increasing [production].’
He said: ‘All our enterprises work in two or even three shifts, around the clock, seven days a week, with no holidays. We are constantly working to ensure the production volume we are obliged to deliver to the army today.’
The Kinzhal uses classic ballistic missile technology but – unlike most other ballistics – is launched from a plane. It has a range of more than 1,200 miles (1,900 when launched from a Tu-22M3) and an accuracy of three feet.
Russia is thought to have specially modified a version of its MiG-31 jet to carry the missiles, which are known to be in use in the skies over Ukraine.
Solovyov demanded Russia’s new-age Kinzhal – or Dagger – hypersonic missile (pictured on the underside of a Russian fighter jet) should be launched against Britain in response
The missile can fly up to 12 times the speed of sound (over 9,000 miles per hour), which Putin has claimed makes it ‘unstoppable’ by current missile defence tech.
While Russia is currently using Kinzhal missiles to hit Ukraine with conventional warheads, they can also be tipped with a nuclear warhead with a 500kiloton yield.
As recently as January 26, Ukrainian Air Force claimed it had shot down 47 drones and missiles our of 55 launched across Ukraine.
Included in the attack was at least one Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic missile, it said. It was unclear whether the missile was among those to be shot down.
The latest clip is not the first time Solovyov has called on London to be bombed.
Last week, one of Solovyov’s ‘analysts’ quoted from a British media report regarding the possibility of the British Government supplying Kyiv with Harpoon anti-ship missiles or surface-to-air Storm Shadow missiles.
‘The British press is saying ‘We’ll give them hell!” Solovyov’s analysts said. ‘Them is us [Russia]’ he said.
Ukraine could use such weaponry to strike deep inside Russian-occupied Crimea, which would potentially be a major escalation in the conflict.
‘They all regard this as complete fine. “Russians can and need to be killed!” They’re saying that constantly,’ he claimed, without noting that Solovyov’s television shows have regularly called for the bombing of the UK and Ukraine’s other Western allies.
‘That’s the problem with Russians. They won’t give up as easily as that,’ Solovyov chimed in. The camera cut to the host of the show. ‘London will turn to dust! To dust!’ he said staring wide-eyed directly down the camera while bizarrely raising his arm and open hand out in front of him like an evil sorcerer.
‘Or should I say it in English,’ he asks his guests. ‘Burn in hell,’ he says in English. ‘That’s better, yeah? Good,’ he asks in Russian, before saying ‘Flames!’ in English.
A week earlier, Solovyov also asked viewers on his more podcast-like show, ‘Solovyov Live’: ‘Can’t we finally strike at London? What is the problem?’
‘No, no, no – only at military targets,’ he continued, as if reacting to someone taking issue with his suggestion. ‘Well, at the Parliament too,’ he added.
‘Well, they [Britain] are going to give planes [to Ukraine] to strike deep into Russia’s territory,’ he added, as if to justify striking London.
