One of Vladimir Putin‘s state TV propagandists has suggested that Russians should build plywood replicas of Washington DC and London and then bomb them to show what Russia could do to Western cities.

The latest example of sabre-rattling from Putin’s supporters and propagandists comes as Russia is updating its nuclear doctrine.

The idea was put forward by a guest on the Russia 1 channel programme hosted by Vladimir Solovyov, known as Putin’s mouthpiece.

Alexander Mikhailov, director of the Bureau of Political Military Analysis, a Moscow think tank, said the plywood replicas of the US and UK capital should be built at Russia‘s nuclear testing facility on its Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya.

He continued: “Then three billion YouTube users can see what the destruction of the capital cities of Britain and the US looks like with just one of the 10 warheads on each Bulava missile.”

“Let them count how many warheads will be enough for every megalopolis in the collective West,” he said before the anchor weighed in with a question about logistics.

Solovyov interjected: “What if we don’t manage to build the cities of London and Washington in time?”

Mikhailov replied: “Thousands of immigrants who don’t want to die for our country will erect it from plywood…all of it will go up in flames and it will burn so beautifully that it will horrify the world.”

Solovyov also argued that Russia already has grounds to use nuclear weapons after Ukrainian troops launched their shock attack on Kursk last month, seizing around 100 Russian villages.

He said: “We have a very simple problem. First, they were striking against our eyes that would detect a nuclear strike against Russia. According to our doctrine, this is already a basis to start a nuclear war against them.”

The invasion of Kursk by Ukrainian troops, he added, “isn’t part of the plan”. He said: “We have a clear and concise doctrine and we act according to it, including the use of nuclear weapons.”

The Kremlin is also changing its nuclear weapons doctrine in response to the growing possibility that the US and UK will allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike Russian territory.