Russia’s deepest fears are all-too-visible in its media output. High-performance cruise missiles are high on its anxieties list. The propagandists and experts serving the Putin regime fulfill several functions. Their main, state-directed role is to repeat and refine official talking points handed down during regular Kremlin meetings. For outside observers, their statements offer a window into the regime’s mindset.
In September, it became clear that President Trump’s description of Russia as a “paper tiger” caused only mild irritation. However, by October, the U.S. administration’s willingness to consider selling Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine provoked a much more anxious reaction.
The prospect of Ukraine obtaining these missiles — with a range of up to 1,500 miles (and Moscow just 500 miles from Kyiv) — seemed to hit Kremlin propagandists like a ton of bricks.
Appearing on the state TV program 60 Minutes, retired Admiral Sergei Avakyants noted that the potential delivery of Tomahawks to Ukraine is “a very serious issue.” In response to leading questions from host Olga Skabeeva about whether Russia might strike the United States in response (presumably with nuclear weapons, a favorite theme on Russian state TV), the admiral said that for now, this is not a viable option.
He also admitted that a weak response could lead to public discontent. After years of threatening to strike “decision-making centers” in Washington, propagandists suddenly had to explain to ordinary Russians that long-range strikes deep inside Russia would not necessarily lead to nuclear war with America.
On October 2, during his Full Contact radio show, Vladimir Solovyov called on Russia’s leadership to completely destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and “return it to the Stone Age.” He argued that in wartime, all infrastructure is considered military. Lacking self-awareness, Solovyov seemed not to realize that the same principle could easily be applied to Russia itself.
Nevertheless, the idea of Tomahawks flying toward Moscow clearly shook him. He wondered aloud: “Is this it? Did the period of candies and chocolates with Trump come to an end? Will we now get the whip? Will Daddy start beating Russia with golf clubs?” The self-proclaimed “nuclear maniac,” who routinely threatens the United States and Western countries with nuclear strikes, was so panicked that he essentially admitted the disingenuous nature of his constant nuclear threats.
On September 30, during his show The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, he declared that the West would inevitably provide Ukraine with long-range missiles: “However ridiculous this may sound, let’s base it strictly on history. They will jump — there’s no way they won’t jump.” Solovyov also conceded that mutual nuclear strikes between Russia and the United States would end the world as we know it: “Direct strikes between countries with equal potential are pointless. That immediately means total destruction.” He then described the “Dead Hand” system, designed to automatically launch nuclear missiles at U.S. targets if Moscow were attacked, adding gleefully: “Europe doesn’t have anything like this.”
Andrey Sidorov, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Politics at Moscow State University, argued that regardless of the Tomahawk decision, Europe would still be capable of inflicting damage on Russia. Solovyov responded that Americans and Europeans were already doing so, absurdly blaming them for Ukraine’s successful drone attacks on Russian oil refineries — even though these drones are made and operated by Ukrainians.
In retaliation, he suggested that Russia should bomb oil refineries in the Netherlands. Sidorov, for his part, proposed “moving the masts” of the USS Richard Montgomery, a World War II ship that sank in the Thames Estuary in 1944 while carrying about 1,400 tons of explosives. He predicted that the resulting explosion would flood nearby British coastal towns and ports, concluding: “We can start with this today.”
It is worth noting that the United States has not yet decided to supply Tomahawks to Ukraine, and the whole story may therefore amount to nothing. Some unnamed officials are already walking back the possibility, although they have suggested that other munitions might be provided instead — including the new Barracuda system, with a range of up to 500 miles.