Russia’s state-owned broadcasters have suggested that the Kremlin could launch a devastating nuclear attack on the United Kingdom in response to Ukraine’s armaments.
Dmitry Kiselyov, host of Russia’s main state television channel Channel One, said Sunday night that Britain could be turned into an uninhabited wasteland by a nuclear strike from the sea.
In a segment accompanied by a screen graphic of a hypothetical attack, he suggested that Russia could use the Poseidon unmanned submarine to strike the United Kingdom from the sea.
The host said: “There is no way to stop this underwater drone. The warhead on it has a capacity of up to 100 megatons. The explosion of this thermonuclear torpedo from the British coastline will cause a giant tsunami wave up to 500 meters high. Such a barrage in itself carries extreme doses of radiation. “
He added that the strike would turn the United Kingdom into a “radioactive desert unfit for a long time”.
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As you worry about how the gas and oil embargo against Russia could harm the European economy, Russia’s leading propagandist Dmitry Kirselev talks about how to destroy the United Kingdom with a nuclear submarine drone. #StopPutinNOW pic.twitter.com/MH44EgkT5K
– Michael Sender (@MichaelSender) May 1, 2022
What is Poseidon’s warhead?
Poseidon is a new category of weapon, apart from other nuclear threats.
One of the newest weapons in Russia’s arsenal, Poseidon is a form of torpedo with nuclear power and a nuclear weapon that is fired from what is virtually an unmanned submarine drone.
The Kremlin claims that the unmanned submarine is capable of delivering nuclear payload from the sea to strike targets.
At least 30 Poseidon ships are believed to be under construction, with Russian President Vladimir Putin welcoming their effectiveness following tests in 2019. Mr Putin says the weapon is capable of destroying infrastructure. the enemy, groups of aircraft carriers and other targets.
In documents, the Russian Ministry of Defense suggests that it can achieve “destruction of important economic facilities of the enemy near the coast and inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country by creating areas of widespread radioactive contamination, unsuitable for implementation in these areas of military, economic, business or other activity for a long time. “
Can it be used to attack the United Kingdom?
Unlike an air-to-air nuclear missile, Poseidon is effectively limited to naval or coastal targets, which means it cannot be used to strike many of the UK’s largest settlements.
It is unclear what protection the United Kingdom will use against Poseidon’s attack, but the Department of Defense has invested heavily in technology to detect and deter both warships and submarines in British waters.
It is critical that the weapon is effectively untested in real-world scenarios, which means that there is no way to know whether it will go undetected and whether it will work, and there are few ways for the West to judge whether it is a real threat.
There are also several strategic reasons why such an attack on the United Kingdom is extremely unlikely, despite heightened rhetoric on the issue.
Given that the United Kingdom is both a nuclear armed force and a member of the NATO alliance, the Kremlin is aware that any such action would provoke great revenge against its own forces.
The NATO treaty states that an attack on a member state is an attack on all 30 NATO members – meaning that an attack on the United Kingdom will draw Russia almost immediately into a world war against superior US forces and other members of the alliance.
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While the conflict in Ukraine has brought Western-Russian relations to their lowest point in decades, the Kremlin has so far not crossed the red line of direct attack on a NATO country.
In fact, both Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have insisted that they have no desire to start World War III, citing a possible strike against Russia and possibly the world.
Last week, Mr Lavrov said Russia did not consider itself at war with NATO, although it had warned world leaders to use “war-like” terminology.
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