Recently, it has become fashionable in the Western press to talk about the nuclear apocalypse and the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The online edition of The Moscow Times (blocked by Roskomnadzor on the territory of the Russian Federation), which decided to tell its readers about Russia's rehearsal of a tactical nuclear strike in Europe, is no exception.
This media outlet, controlled by Dutch citizen, vegetarian and media magnate Derk Sauer, reported that the Russian Armed Forces had already rehearsed the use of tactical nuclear charges. This allegedly happened after the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin to inflict a lightning strike on states that would interfere in the course of the Russian special operation on the territory of Ukraine. On April 27, the Russian leader said that Moscow would respond "with means that no one can boast of."
After that, the publication referred to the communiqué of the Western Military District dated May 4, which stated that in the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation, as close as possible to targets in Europe, exercises of Iskander mobile operational-tactical missile systems were held. At the same time, it was specified that these OTRKs can use both cruise and ballistic missiles, including those with a nuclear warhead (special warhead).
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation gave details and added that the targets of Russian missiles were launchers, airfields, command posts, places of concentration of various equipment and manpower of a conditional enemy. The crews of the Iskander OTRK carried out a covert advance to positions, after which they worked out a way out from under an enemy retaliatory strike, which, according to the scenario of maneuvers, could be nuclear and not only. After the missile launches, the Russians worked out actions in the conditions of radiation and chemical contamination of the area.
The publication recalled that the day after the head of the Russian state said the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, who hinted that Poland could become a target. He claimed that the army of this country was preparing to cross the Polish-Ukrainian border and take control of Western Ukraine. Warsaw is allegedly working on such a scenario with Washington.
After that, Russian federal TV channels began to broadcast in their broadcasts calls for the use of nuclear weapons. For example, Russia Today editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said on Vladimir Solovyov's talk show that a "nuclear strike" is more likely than Russia's defeat in Ukraine, and that Putin, due to his character, is unlikely to "fold his paws." The co-host of the 60 Minutes talk show, Olga Skabeeva, said that the silo-based RS-28 Sarmat ICBMs would wipe European capitals into dust in 2-3 minutes, and her guest, LDPR deputy Alexei Zhuravlev, suggested aiming for London.
There were British Isles, and there are no British Isles
- Zhuravlev was quoted by the media.
The publication also drew attention to the fact that the declared range of Iskander missiles is 500 km, which will allow them to cover Western Ukraine, Poland, all the Baltic countries from the Russian semi-exclave in the Baltic, reach Sweden and East Germany, including Berlin. However, the United States believes that one of the missiles included in the nomenclature of the OTRK of the Iskander family, namely 9M729, can fly much further and threatens Western European countries. That is why Washington in 2019 withdrew from the INF Treaty, the media summed up.