Russian politicians threatened nuclear war and demanded the destruction of London while mocking Boris Johnson on state TV.
In a chilling ramping up of rhetoric amid fears of a new European conflict, ultranationalist figures in Moscow taunted the West with obliteration if it continues to interfere with its actions on the Ukraine border.
Britain is providing ‘self-defence’ weapons to Ukraine as the world holds its breath over a looming Russian invasion – though it has ruled out sending in troops if the two countries do go to war.
Firebrand far-right politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky warned that war was inevitable if the West doesn’t cave into President Putin’s security demands, leading to the destruction of New York and several major cities in Europe.
Speaking on official state channel Rossiya 1 he said: ‘They’re partying for the last time… champagne, whisky…there is a big tragedy ahead for humanity, for Europe.
‘There can only be a solution by force, no other…After the start of an armed conflict in Europe the count [of victims] would be in millions. There would be no time to count.’
Zhirinovsky, 75, talked about obliterating London but sparing Scotland, Wales and Ireland as he continued with his tirade.
He said: ‘Stop flying to New York – this city will soon no longer exist.
‘It’s time for events that no-one expects, that seemed a fantasy….
‘The great America, the rich Europe – it all can stop….
‘With some part of Europe disappearing… Kyiv, Warsaw, Riga, Tallinn and London.
‘Not all Europe should be destroyed – but London (yes).
‘Let the Scots, Irish, Welsh live.
‘But (not) London, always the core of anti-Russian propaganda.’
Pro-Kremlin TV host Vladimir Solovyov then tore into the British prime minister, asking: ‘How can one live without London and its famous dancer Boris Johnson?
‘Do you suggest depriving world culture of famous dancer Boris Johnson?’
He then played footage of Mr Johnson dancing with a lightsabre-wielding London Assembly member when he was mayor.
The video is believed to have been filmed at a Christmas party for London Assembly staff in 2013, but has recently gone viral in light of the ‘partygate’ scandal engulfing No 10.
Solovyov went on: ‘Did you see him dance…? Let’s show how he dances…
‘These are the people threatening us…telling us who we should be…
‘Great country – she is with a sword.
‘And Boris Johnson, I’m afraid to imagine what he has….
‘This woman is a member of the London assembly.’
But the pair didn’t joke around for too long before quickly returning to the subject of war.
Zhirinovsky declared: ‘We demand that [the West’s] weapons be moved away from the border with Russia.
‘[In my opinion] all nuclear weapons including French and British should be taken out of Europe entirely….
‘And if all of these requirements are not met, and they will not be met, […] then there will be just one “sanction” left.
‘We will make them, not voluntarily but by force, fulfil our requirements.
‘And for a long time, forever, to exclude the threat for Russia from the West. This is why there should be no West.’
Zhirinovsky, 75, is leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party and a six times candidate in Russian presidential elections.
He was born under the rule of Joseph Stalin and spent most of life living in Communist Russia.
While the veteran MP has no power over the Russian government, the fact his anti-Western threats were aired so prominently on a state TV channel highlights the alarming nature of the debate over the worsening east-west tensions.
He was not the only one to express such views.
Solovyov warned that ‘the only way to solve problems is by force of arms’ and that a nuclear war was possible.
On the same TV show, Professor Dmitry Yevstafyev, of the Moscow Higher School of Economics, advocated the ‘denuclearisation of the degrading British monarchy’ which, with its atomic weapons, resembles ‘a monkey with a hand grenade prepared to pull the pin’.
Another MP – Yevgeny Fyodorov, 58, a member of the main pro-Putin United Russia party – also threatened the West with nuclear and biological war.
In a video on Youtube he warned that Putin could decide on using atomic weapons.
He said that the ultimate option ‘is a preventive strike with nuclear weapons’ or ‘even just with strategic missiles at a training ground in Nevada’.
He said: ‘This is a US military training ground, there are no civilians there.
‘If we (give) a two, or three day, warning, this is quite a good option.
‘And a demonstration of the seriousness of our intentions.’
Fyodorov, founder of the National Liberation Movement, said another option for Putin, if the West viewed him as bluffing, was to destroy alleged US biological laboratories built in recent years in ex-Soviet states such as Kazakhstan and Georgia.
Such labs have been linked in fake news reports to Covid-19’s spread.
‘If he sees the Americans don’t understand and thought it was a bluff, then let’s then bomb their labs with biological weapons,’ he said, adding that because the labs were in former Soviet territories ‘we have the right to bomb’.
Intelligence services have suggested an invasion of Ukraine could happen some time in early 2022, after Russian forces amassed thousands of troops on the border.
Conflict between Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian military has been since 2014, although a shaky ceasefire is in place.
Despite the rhetoric of many Russian politicians – and the massive build-up of troops – Russia denies that it’s planning a military invasion.
President Vladmir Putin has accused Nato countries of ‘pumping’ Ukraine with weapons and said the US is stoking tensions in the region.
He has issued Nato with a list of security demands – mainly to stop any expansion of the organisation to the east.
He says Ukraine’s alliance with the West is ;undermining regional security’ and insists, among other things, that Nato bans Ukraine and other former Soviet states from ever becoming members of the organisation.
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