Sergei Markov made several unsubstantiated claims – including that Western countries are using Ukrainian soldiers “as slaves” – before hanging up on the hotline during his interview. He threatened the West with nuclear war before being asked questions on the BBC’s Today show on Wednesday morning. “Good morning,” said the presenter, to which the former Putin adviser replied: “Good morning. Well, it’s not a good morning… for everyone.” He continued: “For Western countries, for you British listeners, I would say that Vladimir Putin has told us that he would be prepared to use nuclear weapons against Western countries, including nuclear weapons against Great Britain. Mr Markov said “your cities will be targeted…” before being cut off. Putin warned he would be prepared to use weapons of mass destruction to “protect” his country in an address to the nation on Wednesday. “When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” the Russian president said. Former Putin adviser launches nuclear war rant within seconds of BBC Radio 4 interview (Sky News/Twitter) Mr Markov was asked if he believed the Russian leader had made a clear threat not only to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine but to start a general nuclear war that would kill everyone. He replied “not all of them”, but added that “it could kill a lot of people in Western countries”. The former Putin adviser said: “I would say that everyone in the world … is thinking about nuclear war. This nuclear war could be the result of the insane behavior of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.” Vladimir Putin has warned that he would be prepared to use nuclear weapons to protect Russia (Russian Presidential Press Service) He claimed that Russia “doesn’t want everyone in the world to die” in a nuclear war, but that it wanted to resolve the war in Ukraine, which he claimed Western countries are fighting “using Ukrainian soldiers as their slaves”. After claiming that Russia wanted peace, Mr Markov was challenged by the BBC presenter who said: “You haven’t talked much about peace, have you? You’ve just threatened us all with total destruction, nuclear missiles are coming to London, you said, and now you’re talking peace.’ Mr Markov replied: “If Great Britain continues to be aggressive against Russia, if the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Liz Truss, still has a plan to destroy Russia, people in London should understand that this threat comes from Liz Truss who is an aggressor.” He ended the interview by shouting at the host, claiming that Russia did not invade Ukraine and blaming the West for the war. A Foreign Secretary, who was the next guest on the Today programme, was asked what she made of the interview. “More of Putin’s lies. Complete rewriting of history. A bit of saber rattling,” said Gillian Keegan. “And talk of nuclear war is very useless and we would ask for calm.” Russia invaded Ukraine seven months ago (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) He added: “It’s a serious threat, but it’s one that’s been made before.” Mr Markov had previously made unsubstantiated claims about the war in Ukraine in British media, telling Sky News Volodymyr Zelensky was a US “puppet” and Russia had invaded Ukraine to liberate it from “neo-Nazis”. He also said Talk TV host Jeremy Kyle was “probably misinformed” when asked about Putin being responsible for the deaths in Ukraine.
