Russia would be able to destroy the U.S. in “one hour,” a prominent Kremlin propagandist has said, in the latest bellicose threat from the country’s state-controlled media as the war in Ukraine rages on.
“We are the only country in the world that can destroy the United States in one hour,” Margarita Simonyan, the editor of the Russian state-backed broadcaster, RT, said in a clip of a Russian state television broadcast posted online by X account, @NOELreports.
It is not clear when the clip was aired. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
Russian state television frequently broadcasts inflammatory content and has repeatedly alluded to a nuclear confrontation with the U.S., a key ally of Ukraine in its war against Russia. Relations between Washington and Moscow have been strained throughout the nearly two years of war, with few prospects for an end to the conflict or a rapprochement.
The U.S. and other countries providing arms to Ukraine have been concerned by the possibility of escalating the war in eastern Europe, and the often irate reaction from Moscow to new military aid pledges.
In fall 2022, shortly after Russia annexed the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of southern and eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin said the territories fell under Moscow’s nuclear arsenal. The four regions are where the bulk of front-line clashes take place.
What is the problem between us and Russia?
Both nations have shared interests in nuclear safety and security, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and space exploration. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations became very tense after the United States imposed sanctions against Russia.
Did the US ever help Russia?
By the end of October, the first Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union was on its way. The United States entered the war as a belligerent in late 1941 and thus began coordinating directly with the Soviets, and the British, as allies.