A Russian, Pro-Putin politician has told Foreign Secretary Liz Truss that one ‘Sarmat’ nuclear missile would be enough to destroy the United Kingdom.
The RS-28 Sarmat, also called Satan-II, is reported to be able to carry ten or more warheads and decoys and has the capability of firing over either of the earth’s poles with a range of 11,000 to 18,000 km.
On Wednesday of last week, the Foreign Secretary gave a powerful speech outlining the UK’s intention to defeat Putin in Ukraine. The Tory MP told a London audience at Mansion House that the British government has set its sights on pushing Russia’s dictator out of the entire country. Her statements follow the US Defence Secretary’s aggressive remarks on his recent visit to Kyiv.
According to Lloyd Austin, the US wants to “weaken” Russia so that it can no longer launch comparable conflicts.
The intensification of rhetoric by Western politicians and bureaucrats has angered Russian President Vladimir Putin and his followers. Putin has now responded by telling the Foreign Secretary and her Cabinet that the United Kingdom is squarely in Russia’s nuclear crosshairs.
Liz Truss was ‘playing with fire’, according to Sergey Mironov, chairman of the Just Russia party in the Duma. In a speech dripping with scorn, he said: “Someone tell Liz that one Sarmat missile is enough to wipe out the islands of Britain. Maybe she just doesn’t get it.”
After making a handful of humiliating gaffes during a meeting with her Kremlin colleague, Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Secretary became a laughingstock in Russia.
During a pre-war discussion with Lavrov in February, she was asked if she recognised Russian authority over the oblasts of Rostov and Voronezh.
Prior to Putin’s invasion, the two areas in the south of Russia were the centre of a Russian military build-up.
Before being corrected by the UK ambassador, Ms Truss said that Britain would never recognise them as Russian.
Mironov accused London and Washington of orchestrating Ukraine’s anti-Russian campaign. He said: “They have already warned about possible strikes against decision-making centres in Moscow.
“But we see that decisions are not made in Kyiv, where only pitiful puppets sit. Decisions are made in London, Washington and Bonn [sic.], where they are getting ready to deliver heavy weaponry to the ‘Banderites’.”
The term “Banderites” is an offhand Russian way of calling Ukrainians fascists.
Stepan Bandera was a Ukrainian extreme right-wing politician and Nazi collaborator who lived in the 1930s.
Western politicians, the Russian politician said, could not hide behind Ukraine in their war against Russia and would face the consequences.
Russian scientists are growing increasingly concerned about Moscow’s threats to deploy nuclear weapons.