The most aggressive profile of Russian state propaganda, Vladimir Soloviov, has put Germany back in its spotlight. In one of his most incendiary interventions that are remembered on Public television in Russia, of which the The presenter has threatened to turn Berlin into a “nuclear desert” before installing a military garrison there. “When the radiation levels return to normal and be safe, we will quietly establish a detachment there … a small one, because there is no need to a large nuclear desert, and we will never leave,” he released with disdain.
The threat comes just when the German chancellor Friedrich Merz has declared that “all diplomatic paths have been exhausted” to solve the war in Ukraine. The gesture symbolizes a turning point in the Berlin posture, which until recently still advocated keeping channels open with the Kremlin. Soloviov, far from lowering the tone, chose to intensify it: he mixed threats with conspiracy theories and revived the historical account of an eternally hostile Germany to Russia, curiously adapted to the official narrative.
In the midst of the growing suspicions about sabotage in the Baltic Sea, the presenter did not hesitate to blame Berlin of the explosions that in 2022 seriously damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines, key to the supply of Russian gas to Europe. “Absolute silence. Instead, they talk about terrorist attacks in the Baltic Sea, of cables … Wait a moment, you did an investigation and it turned out that the Russians had nothing to do. But in the end, it seems that we always have something to do with everything,” he ironized.
Kremlin has systematically denied any implication in sabotage, although several Western governments hold Russia for the attack. The Soloviov version does not provide evidence and fits the usual strategy of Moscow: misinform, invest the accusations and sow doubts. According to him, Germany is not only behind the attack on the gas pipelines, but also of the alleged recent damage to underwater communication cables in the Baltic. Everything would be part of an undercover offensive against Russia that would justify, according to its own script, a future military occupation.
None of this is new in Soloviov programs. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, its space has become a threat platform, historical revisionism and war rhetoric, aimed at both internal consumption and Western chancellors. With a incendiary style and less and less disguised, he has embraced the role of informal intentions of Kremlin.
Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine is extended more than fifteen months and the tension between Russia and NATO continues to climb. Since February 2022, Vladimir Putin has agitated the nuclear ghost repeatedly. He then warned the West against any attempt to interference and has later insisted that Russia will use “all means” to defend its sovereignty, a phrase widely interpreted as a evening threat of nuclear attack. “Russia is a great nuclear power and will protect your interests at whatever it costs,” he repeats.
