Russian State TV Issues Stark Warning Over Threat of Defeat

Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov has again invoked Armageddon on his TV show in which the consequences of a Russian defeat in Ukraine were discussed.

In a clip on his evening show on the Russia 1 channel, which was tweeted by journalist and Russia watcher Julia Davis, Solovyov listened to his guest Karen Shakhnazarov, a filmmaker, talk about how the war was now "a question of our destruction."

Shakhnazarov wondered whether Russian people fully understood "the gravity of the threat" that the war's outcome poses, and that the conflict was "a lot more complex and dangerous" than World War II.

He also described how modern Russian society was nothing like the one that existed in 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union because there was no unifying ideology.

Contemporary Russians, in his view, had grown up consuming American culture and he said there were internal divisions in the country and a lack of younger people, which meant that older citizens were serving on the frontlines.

The war "is fateful for us," Shakhnazarov said, "our political elites have to realize this. We should start admitting that this is not simply a special military operation but a war. If we lose this war, we will disappear" like some Native American tribes which "have simply vanished." He went on to suggest that defeat for Moscow's forces in Ukraine would lead to books being written about "how Russia lost itself and Eurasia."

Solovyov chimed in to say he hoped Ukraine understood that "if we lose, we are taking the whole world with us."

"Let me remind you what the Supreme Commander said, 'who needs the world if Russia isn't in it?'" Solovyov said, referring to a quote by President Vladimir Putin.

The anchor then went on say that Russia should use its nuclear weapons, shed restrictions against testing and "convincingly demonstrate what we have."

Since the start of Putin's invasion, Solovyov has repeatedly said that Russia should draw on its nuclear weapons capability to strike against Western countries that back Ukraine. Last week, he said on his radio show Full Contact that "nuclear war is inevitable."

The threat of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine has hung over the conflict since it started.

However, experts have said that Kyiv's demonstrated ability to shoot down six Kinzhal nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles fired by Russia this week could lessen the chances of Moscow considering an escalation from conventional weapons.

"We know that these missiles are neither hypersonic nor unstoppable," said Sergej Sumlenny, founder of the European Resilience Initiative Center, a German think tank.

"From this perspective, we should also analyze other Russian threats like nuclear threats. Are they really capable of hitting us?" he told Newsweek.