Russia Announces U.S. Sites That Would Be Targeted By Nuclear Missiles In The Event of War

Russian state-sponsored television announced what would be its targets of nuclear warheads on the U.S. mainland should the two countries devolve into nuclear war, Reuters is reporting.

Last week, as reported at the time by The Inquisitr, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his country that Russia would target the U.S. with nuclear warheads if American nuclear missiles are deployed to Europe, or within striking distance of Russia.

“Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons which can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centers of decision-making are located.”

It was unclear, at the time, what Putin meant by “decision-making centers,” but on Monday Russia cleared things up quite a bit. Dmitry Kiselyov, presenter of Russia’s weekly TV news show Vesti Nedeli, showed viewers a map of the United State, with various points on the map representing potential targets.

Specific targets include the Pentagon, the presidential private Maryland retreat Camp David, and Jim Creek — a naval communications base in Washington state. Other potential targets include Maryland’s Fort Richie and McClellan Air Force Base, both of which have been closed for over a decade.

Further, the host also referred to a nuclear missile Russia reportedly is developing, one called the “Tsirkon” or “Zircon,” which can reportedly travel at five times the speed of sound. The speed of sound is 767.269 mph, and five times that number amounts to 3836.345 mph. Kiselyov claimed that Russia could launch such a missile from a submarine near U.S. waters, and that it could hit its target in less than five minutes.

Reuters described the report as unusually blusterous even by the standards of Russian TV. The news outlet also noted that the report was delivered by Kiselyov, the man through which the Kremlin delivers its strongest anti-American rhetoric.

“For now, we’re not threatening anyone, but if such a deployment takes place, our response will be instant.”

Russia has been amping up its talk of nuclear war and nuclear weapons ever since early February when, as The Inquisitr reported at the time, Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (IRNF) Treaty. Trump accused Russia of violating the Reagan-era treaty, and said that the U.S. would begin developing and amassing such weapons if Russia continued to do the same.

Just how seriously Russia’s threats should be taken remains unclear. And as to the notion of the U.S. deploying nuclear missiles to Europe and provoking a response, the U.S. “has no immediate plans to deploy such missiles in Europe and has dismissed Putin’s warnings as disingenuous propaganda,” per Reuters. The media outlet also notes that the United States does not currently have “ground-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles that it could place in Europe.”