Ex-Israeli diplomat on Russian state TV: Moscow could bomb UK ‘back to Stone Age’
Yaakov Kedmi suggests Russia could deploy its hypersonic Zircon missile against Britain, and, if so, ‘about 50 or 60’ of its power stations would ‘be gone in 10 minutes’
Yaakov Kedmi, a Moscow-born former Israeli diplomat, warned on Tuesday that Russia possesses the capability of bombing the UK “back to the Stone Age.”
In an appearance on Russian state TV, Kedmi — who previously served as the head of Nativ, Israel’s liaison group with Jews in the former Soviet Union — suggested that Russia could deploy the hypersonic Zircon missile against the United Kingdom.
“About 50 or 60 of Britain’s power stations will be gone in 10 minutes,” Kedmi said, who has in recent years become a public pro-Kremlin cheerleader. “And all of Britain will be back to the Stone Age.”
The British government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have been among the strongest supporters of Ukraine’s efforts to resist the invasion launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
The UK has sent anti-tank missiles, air defense systems and other weapons to Ukraine.
Kedmi’s comments were a retort to his two other fellow panel members, politician Aleksey Zhuravlyov and TV reporter Dmitry Kiselyov, who earlier in the broadcast called on Moscow to use its state-of-the-art Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile.
Zhuravlyov said that Russia could nuke Britain with the weapon — dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts — in 200 seconds and obliterate Finland in just ten.
Kedmi dismissed the other two panel members’ suggestion as “overkill,” adding that the weapon was “too good, too big, for Great Britain.”
Both Finland and its neighbor Sweden have announced this week that they will seek to join NATO, with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine prompting the two Nordic states to abandon their tradition of military nonalignment.
Moscow has regularly used nuclear saber-rattling against the West over its support of Ukraine.
Following the successful test launch of the Sarmat last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the weapon will make the Kremlin’s enemies “think twice.”
The Sarmat is among Russia’s next-generation missiles that Putin has called “invincible,” and which also include the Kinzhal and Avangard hypersonic missiles.
“I congratulate you on the successful launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile,” Putin told the army in televised remarks.
“This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure the security of Russia from external threats and make those who, in the heat of aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country, think twice,” he said.
The Sarmat super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile is designed to elude anti-missile defense systems with a short initial boost phase, giving enemy surveillance systems a tiny window to track it.
Putin said the missile, weighing more than 200 metric tons and able to transport multiple warheads, can hit any target on Earth.
