Russian TV Host Calls for Nuclear Strike Despite Dissent Among Pundits

Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov called for the use of nuclear weapons in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, despite the guests on his show highlighting the flaws in such a strategy.

A clip of Solovyov arguing with a guest has also gone viral on Twitter since being posted on Monday evening by the Daily Beast's Julia Davis.

"Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov had clearly given up on the idea of defeating Ukraine militarily," Davis said as a caption on the video, which has so far been viewed more than 100,000 times.

She added: "In his desperation to scare the West into stopping its support, he resorts to nuclear threats- but even fellow propagandists are sick of it and say he lost all sense of reality."

The state TV host also appeared to take issue with NATO recently recognizing Russia as a terrorist state due to its aggression against Ukraine.

Andrey Sidorov, the deputy dean of world politics at the Moscow State University, appeared to defend NATO's classification, while also admitting Russia often had to work to remove the labels put on it by the West.

He said: "Supposedly, we are supporting certain organizations that pursue terrorist goals against the free world.

"We are a state sponsor of terrorism, meaning that we carry out terrorist policies against Ukraine. What else is there to say?"

Solovyov replied: "And you don't want to get them with nuclear weapons?"

He added: "Our logic is simple: If we have weapons that secure total victory, it would be strange not to use them.

"Otherwise, why did we even make them? If we think that our lives have no value anyway and that nuclear weapons are not necessary because the wonderful Western world has to remain but Russia can be destroyed.

"So let's stop developing all modern weapons if they don't fulfil their function of deterrence."

Dmitry Drobnitsky argued against the use of nuclear weapons and said that Russia was not directly under threat by NATO.

He said: "Let me remind you of our doctrine, if the existence of the Russian state is threatened. No, at this moment it isn't.

"At issue is the fate of the military operation."

The host argued back that Russia's fate was at stake and that their land was occupied.

Drobnitsky added: "[Solovyov] come on. It wasn't our territory until we declared it as ours."

Solovyov argued that this detail didn't matter and continued to call for nuclear action to resolve the ongoing conflict. The TV host has firmly supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine and his rhetoric has appeared to get steadily more aggressive.

Without any significant victory from Moscow, Solovyov has repeatedly called for Russia to escalate the situation with nuclear strikes and attacks on infrastructure that could be deemed extreme.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.