Russia has made new threats to use its Satan-2 hypersonic nuclear missile to strike Britain in just 200 seconds.
Finland, which is poised to join NATO, would be totally wiped out in as little as 10 seconds, declared Aleksey Zhuravlyov deputy chairman of the Russian parliament’s defence committee.
His wild threats came as senior Russian officials appear frustrated at Vladimir Putin ’s lack of military progress in Ukraine, and enraged at the show of Western unity against them.
Zhuravlyov, 59, claimed in an interview: “If Finland wants to join this bloc, then our goal is absolutely legitimate - to question the existence of this state. This is logical.
"If the United States threatens our state, it’s good: here is the Sarmat [known in the West as Satan-2] for you, and there will be nuclear ashes from you if you think that Russia should not exist.
“And Finland says that it is at one with the USA. Well, get in line.
“The Finns in general should be grateful to Russia for their statehood, for the fact that Finland exists as a country.”
Asked if Russia would now rebase nuclear weapons onto its border with Finland, he said: “What for? We don't need to.
“We can hit with a Sarmat [known in the West as Satan-2] from Siberia, and even reach the UK.
“And if we strike from Kaliningrad... the hypersonic's reaching time is 200 seconds - so go ahead, guys.
“On the Finnish border we will have not strategic weapons, but Kinzhal-class, one that will reach Finland in 20 seconds, or even 10 seconds.”
He said Russia would massively strengthen its military forces on its western flank.
“This is natural. If so far we had not predicted possible hostilities on the part of Finland, then now they are quite possible.
“And this must be taken into account, without a doubt.”
He claimed Finland is being provoked into joining NATO by the US and Britain.
“The Finns have nothing to share with us. They receive more than 90 per cent gas, timber and much more from us.
“Who needs fighting first of all? The Finns? They are not afraid that Russia is attacking them.
“Of course, sooner or later the Americans will force them to do so.
“Just as they forced Ukraine to do it, they are trying to force Poland and Romania. And, as practice shows, they succeed.
“It is impossible to say that Finland will join NATO and behave towards us as before - this will not happen. The Americans will incite them to provocations.
“We endure for a long time. But this cannot go on forever.”
Reflecting a view among hardliners around Vladimir Putin he said: “The United States will do everything possible to make World War III happen.
“Just not on their territory.
“They will try not to lead to nuclear strikes, but they will try to draw the whole of Europe into a conflict with Russia, inflame the situation in Asia, [and] set fire to as many countries as possible .
“For them this will be a very good way out of the internal economic crisis.
“They will be able to attribute all their problems to the war, as they already did in the First World War and the Second World War.
“They got out of their crisis only thanks to the war in Europe. But there is a big danger: who guarantees that nuclear missiles will not fly? I do not guarantee this.”
Asked by Ura news outlet if Russia could strike first with nuclear weapons, he replied: “Certainly.”
Asked under what conditions, he replied this would happen if the existence of Russia was threatened.
Finland and Sweden were now “joining an Alliance that wants to destroy Russia. Therefore, we want to destroy them in response.”
Asked about Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, he said Russia would crush them when necessary.
“We are definitely not afraid of these peanuts,” he said.
“They are as nasty as stink bugs. But they will need to be crushed when necessary. Now the bug is small and smelly.
“They would have put forward territorial claims against us, as Estonia wanted to do. Well, try it. They follow exactly the same path as Ukraine. Let's see where it takes them.”
He claimed that St Petersburg - Putin’s birthplace - could be NATO’s first target in a war with Russia.
“This is the main goal [in this direction]. This is beyond any doubt,” he said.
“The question is different. Today we are conducting a special operation, saving every life of the civilian population, and the Ukrainian Nazis, on the contrary, because these are not their people, and for them the more victims, the better.
“If the Finns want to destroy a certain part of our population, if they strike at St. Petersburg, this threatens to destroy all of Finland as a state. Well, how else?
“How can a normal person perceive this: you have destroyed a little bit - we have a little bit? No, it won’t.”
Russia’s new 'big beast' hypersonic Sarmat is a 208-ton 15,880mph intercontinental ballistic missile.
Putin has said the weapon is “unstoppable” by the West with “no analogues…in the world for a long time to come”.
It is due to be deployed this year.
Recently warmonger TV anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, 68, told his Russian TV audience that Britain should be flooded twice with Putin’s most advanced nuclear weapons.
He proposed use of Satan-2 to wipe England from the map.
Next, Russia should “plunge Britain into the depths of the sea” with its “underwater robotic drone Poseidon” causing a 1,640ft tsunami.
Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev warned this week of the risk of nuclear war.
The Kinzhal hypersonic missile has been deployed with conventional warheads in the Ukraine war - but is also nuclear capable.
It comes as Russia urged its people not to travel to Britain, and vowed to block UK citizens seeking to enter its country.
Moscow blames Britain for acting as a Western coordinator and cheerleader of the tough NATO response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
