(MOSCOW) – Russian state television host Vladimir Solovyov and his guests have issued explicit threats against Britain, Finland, and other post-Soviet countries during a broadcast on 1st September 2026. The threats were made on the programme “Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov,” which featured State Duma members Leonid Kalashnikov and Dmitry Sablin.
The panellists expressed frustration that Western nations do not take Russian threats seriously. Solovyov questioned why Russia had not already attacked Finland, noting the two countries share a land border. “What is the difficulty in striking Finland?” Solovyov asked. “There are land borders, no problem at all.”
Solovyov then mocked Finland’s statehood, claiming the idea of Finnish independence only emerged within the Russian Empire. “The very idea of Finnish statehood came to mind only inside the Russian Empire,” he said. “We suddenly decided that it could be an independent state. It is funny, is it not? They themselves find it funny.”
State Duma member Dmitry Sablin directed threats towards Britain, referencing comments made by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. “As Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova said, given how the British are directly participating in attacks on Russia, I believe the British should carefully study her words,” Sablin said. “So that later they do not ask: what was that for?”
Sablin also issued a broader warning to Russia’s neighbours. “If you live next to Russia, you must be friends with it,” he said. “If you start taking a Russophobic position against Russia while being nearby, you doom your country either to destruction or to becoming part of Russia.”
The panellists repeated the unsubstantiated Kremlin claim that Russia is not fighting the Ukrainian people but rather fascism. “We are not fighting the Ukrainian people now. Absolutely. They are just as Russian as we are,” Sablin said. “We are truly fighting now against fascism, which may be even more brutal in form than the German fascism was.”
The discussion also touched on domestic politics, with Solovyov questioning what political parties had done to support the war effort. “The country is at war. We must win. We must win,” he said. “This means that within the framework of democracy there must be the strictest discipline. We must be cruel to enemies and merciful to our own. But to enemies we must be extremely cruel.”
The video of the programme was published by the Russian Media Monitor project, run by journalist Julia Davis.
Be First to Comment