One of Vladimir Putin’s most loyal propagandists led a panel live on Russian TV in which he and his guests discussed which European city should be bombed first by the Kremlin.
Vladimir Solovyov, who has been hosting the programme Evening with Vladimir Solovyov on state-owned TV channel Russia-1 since 2012, said he couldn’t decide “on Paris or Marseille”.
After one of his guests chimed in to say, “Bucharest, of course”, Solovyov replied: “Then Paris, Marseille, Lyon.”
Discussing brazenly about Russian missiles possibly destroying entire cities and killing millions of people, the panel noted Lyon is “a nice city, there is a fire festival there”.
Solovyov then moved the discussion to Germany, which should be struck down “for Taurus” missiles.
The propagandist referred to ongoing talks about Berlin possibly providing Ukraine, which is seeing military aid from the US drying up, with long-range Taurus missiles.
While German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has suggested a similar move would trigger retaliation from Russia, UK’s Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron has tried to advocate in favour of sending these highly precise weapons to war-torn Kyiv as Ukrainians continue to fight to liberate their country from Russian invaders.
Standing alongside German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during a press conference on Wednesday, Lord Cameron said: “At every stage it’s been said if you give anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, that’s escalation. No, it wasn’t.
“If you give tanks to the Ukrainians, that’s escalation. No, it wasn’t. If you give long-range artillery or long-range fires to the Ukrainians, it’s escalation. No, it isn’t.
“I think the reason for that is clear: If what you’re doing is helping a country defend itself from illegal and completely unjustified aggression, then there should be nothing to stop you helping that country to fight back to recover its territory.”
The UK has been providing Ukraine with long-range Storm Shadow missiles for several months, alongside other aid.
The only move that could lead to a direct threat from Russia for Western allies, Lord Cameron believes, would be sending NATO troops to fight in Ukraine – a scenario French President Emmanuel Macron does not want to rule out.
This isn’t the first time Solovyov leads on TV a similar discussion focused on bringing destruction upon Europe, seemingly normalising for Russian viewers the idea of entering a conflict with the West.
In December, during a similar broadcast in which his panellists were joking about “taking Lisbon”, the host said: “Wait a minute, I am not joking.
“The President of the Russian Federation said it’s not about territory, it’s about security. If we need to take Lisbon to ensure security, we’ll do it.”
A month prior, after arguing there “is a reason” why Lisbon should be under Russian control, Solovyov laughed and told his panellists: “You don’t need it but I like it very much.”
