Russia has released a potential “hit list” in the event of nuclear war, and it has several major U.S. military targets in its crosshairs.
Targets include the Pentagon and Camp David, where President Donald Trump and other high-ranking U.S. officials often spend their time.
Russian state TV issued a report Sunday that contained the list of U.S. military targets that Russia would hit during nuclear warfare, Reuters reported Monday. The report also noted that Russia would be able to strike such targets in less than five minute thanks to a new hypersonic missile that’s in development.
#Russia‘s state TV:
Host Dmitry Kiselyov boasts that Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile “won’t allow Americans to sit it out across the ocean,” names potential targets:
▪️Pentagon
▪️Camp David
▪️Fort Ritchie (Maryland)
▪️McClellan (California)
▪️Jim Creek (Washington State)
©️ pic.twitter.com/oxHd6aToGm— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) February 24, 2019
The targets were identified on the show “Vesti Nedeli” where host Dmitry Kiselyov presented a map of the U.S. and pointed to the locations that Russia would strike.
“For now, we’re not threatening anyone, but if such a deployment takes place, our response will be instant,” Kiselyov said.
Reuters noted that Kiselyov is “close to the Kremlin” and a driver of the heavily anti-American sentiment prevalent on Russian state TV.
All of the targets consisted of military command and training centers, as well as locations known as Presidential retreats. Two of them have been closed for more than a decade, however.
Some of the U.S. nuke targets Russia has said it would strike with its hypersonic missles include military bases closed 20 years ago. https://t.co/hmnPLFjSoj
— James Greiff (@JamesGreiff) February 25, 2019
The targets also include Fort Ritchie, which closed in 1998, along with McClellan Air Force Base, which closed in 2001.
During Putin’s state of the nation address last week, he told Russian Parliament that while the country would not be involved in confrontational activities or be the first to deploy a missile, it would act in response to any new intermediate-range missile deployed to Europe from the U.S.
Although the U.S. currently has missiles deployed to Europe, the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty prohibited short-range missiles (from 310 to 620 miles) and intermediate-range missiles (from 620 to 3,420 miles). Now that the U.S. has withdrawn from the treaty, it could free them to expand deployment of these missiles – including the submarine-launched hypersonic missiles referenced in recent threats.
Putin noted last week that Russia would target the U.S. and its allies who choose to host such missile activities following the suspension of the INF Treaty. He would also direct new weapons to strike key “decision-making centers” in the U.S., hinting at Washington, D.C.
“It’s their right to think how they want. But can they count? I’m sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing,” Putin had said, eliciting applause.
“Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons which can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centers of decision-making are located,” he said.
Putin noted that any intermediate-range missiles deployed by the U.S. would pose a significant threat to Russia, necessitating an urgent and vicious response.
