Since Russian President Vladimir Putin first invaded Ukraine on February 24th, he and his minions have repeatedly threatened to unleash an atomic holocaust against any nation that gets in the way of his objectives. Moscow has also falsely accused the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the European Union of conspiring to destroy Russia.
Last week, Russia tested its new Sarmat or Satan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, a hypersonic projectile that can carry 10 nuclear warheads and evade the West's defenses. The launch has bolstered Russia's confidence that it could annihilate the US and whomever else it wants at a moment's notice.
But the rhetorical sludge oozing out of the Kremlin's propaganda pipeline took a strange and unsettling turn on Tuesday when Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia Today, said that Putin will "never give up" his imperialist ambitions and that she and Putin's other loyalists are willing to die in a nuclear war.
"Personally, I think that the most realistic way is the way of World War III, based on knowing us and our leader, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, knowing how everything works around here, it's impossible—there is no chance—that we will give up," Simonyan said on The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, as reported by The Daily Beast's Russia expert Julia Davis on Wednesday.
The chance "that everything will end with a nuclear strike, to me, is more probable than the other outcome. This is to my horror, on one hand, but on the other hand, with the understanding that it is what it is," Simonyan predicted.
Host Vladimir Solovyov then proclaimed that "we will go to heaven, while they will simply croak," referring to Russia's Western adversaries, although he reassured the audience that there is nothing to worry about because "we're all going to die someday."
Solovyov further wondered why Russia has not deployed its massive arsenal of nuclear weapons against countries that are aiding Ukraine.
"What is preventing us from striking the territory of the United Kingdom, targeting those logistical centers where these arms are being loaded?" he mused.
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Rumors that Putin is suffering from serious health issues have fueled additional theories that he has nothing left to lose if he is fully defeated in Ukraine, a prospect that is evermore likely given the current trajectory of the conflict.
Video has recently emerged of Putin's hand uncontrollably shaking while he waited to greet Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in February.
The footage is "probably the clearest video of something being wrong with Putin's health," tweeted Visegrad24.
"As he walks toward his longtime ally, he wobbles as his leg also tremors," noted The Independent.
In another incident last week, Putin was seen tightly gripping a table as his foot rapidly tapped while he sat and spoke with his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Unsurprisingly, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has insisted that Putin, 69, is in "excellent" health.
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