- The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes.
- Vladimir Solovyov, a prominent Russian state TV host, warned that any attempt to detain Putin would result in an immediate nuclear strike.
- The U.S. State Department has identified Solovyov as a Kremlin propagandist.
A prominent Russian state TV host on Sunday called for a nuclear attack on any country that attempts to detain Russian President Vladimir Putin over the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Vladimir Solovyov issued the warning during a recent broadcast of his show on the state-run Russia-1 channel, saying attempts to hold the Russian leader would result in an “immediate nuclear strike.”
Solovyov‘s comments came after this past Friday’s announcement by the ICC that it had issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes. Investigators for the court in the Hague had reportedly worked on evidence against Putin for over a year before the ICC issued the warrant. It accuses Putin of being “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
in addition to his Russia-1 hosting duties, Solovyov hosts a radio show for a station operated by the Kremlin, Last year, the U.S. State Department wrote on its website in a list identifying well-known figures involved in Russian propaganda that Solovyov “may be the most energetic Kremlin propagandist around today.”
On Monday, BBC journalist Francis Scarr posted a translated video on Twitter of Solovyov’s reaction to the warrant.
Scarr noted that Solovyov did not mention outright the arrest warrant for Putin that the ICC issued. But the Russian host did bring up Maria Lvova-Belova—Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, who was also issued a warrant from the ICC—before he warned any country that might try to detain Putin.
On last night’s show, Solovyov didn’t spell out explicitly that The Hague had issued an arrest warrant for Putin (he did mention Lvova-Belova by name), but warned that any country that dare even declare its intention to detain the Russian president would be nuked pic.twitter.com/0S7GUpfUyJ
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) March 20, 2023
Solovyov began his rant by referencing a recent statement made by German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann about the ICC warrant. “Germany will be obliged to arrest President Putin if he enters German territory and hand him over to the ICC,” Buschmann told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
“Generally, any structure or any country which even dares—like the German scumbag, the minister of—what is it?—justice,” Solovyov said during his on-air remarks, according to Scarr’s translation. “To say that they’ll attempt to implement [the ruling]…. Just so they know, any attempt to implement it is a declaration of war!”
Solovyov continued, “And it calls for an immediate nuclear strike on that country! Immediate! That’s to say, any attempt to do it, to go against the will of the Russian people, which has made itself very clear, must result in a missile strike!”
The TV host then issued another threat to Buschmann, who was not mentioned by name.
“And that idiot, the justice minister, must become acquainted with Sarmat missiles,” Solovyov said, referring to the Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying more than a dozen nuclear warheads.
“Each of the degenerates who consider it legitimate to do what they’ve done, should be held responsible!” he said.
Newsweek reached out by email to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Justice for comment and also emailed the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
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