World War 3 REHEARSAL: Russia releases CHILLING nuclear hit-list – including Trump retreat

The list was broadcast in a report which Western analysts said was unusual even by the bellicose standards of Russian state TV. The startling report went out just days after President Vladimir Putin warned Moscow was militarily ready for a “Cuban Missile”-style crisis if the United States wanted one.

With tensions rising over Kremlin fears of a US deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe, Mr Putin has said Russia would be forced to respond by placing hypersonic nuclear missiles on submarines near US waters.

Washington insists it has no immediate plans to deploy such missiles in Europe and has dismissed Mr Putin’s warnings as disingenuous propaganda.

It does not have any ground-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles that it could place in Europe.

But Mr Trump’s decision to rip up the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty over alleged Russian violations means it is now free develop and deploy such weapons.

Mr Putin denies Russia is seeking a new arms race but at the same time has ramped up his military rhetoric by unveiling of a terrifying arsenal of futuristic weapons including nuclear-capable underwater drones and a deadly collection of missiles.

Some analysts have seen his approach as a tactic to try to re-engage the United States in talks about the strategic balance between the two superpowers.

In the broadcast, Dmitry Kiselyov, presenter of Russia’s main weekly TV news programme, showed a map of the USA and identified several targets Moscow would want to target in the event of a nuclear war.

The targets, which Mr Kiselyov described as US presidential or military command centres, also included Fort Ritchie, a military training centre in Maryland closed in 1998, McClellan, a US Air Force base in California closed in 2001, and Jim Creek, a naval communications base in Washington state.

The presenter, who is close to the Kremlin, said the Tsirkon hypersonic missile Russia is developing could hit the targets in less than five minutes if launched from Russian submarines.

Hypersonic flight is generally taken to mean travelling through the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound.

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

Mr Kiselyov is one of the main conduits of state television’s strongly anti-American tone, once saying Moscow could turn the USA into radioactive ash.

source: express.co.uk