The Russian state television host who broadcast a graphic of a simulated nuclear attack destroying Ireland has rejected a request from Taoiseach Micheál Martin to apologise for the programme.
In a follow-up report broadcast on state-owned television channel Russia-1 on Sunday night, television host Dmitry Kiselyov refused to apologise for the animated graphic broadcast earlier this month showing a nuclear strike off the Irish coast erasing Ireland and Britain from the map.
On Sunday's programme, Kiselyov, a Kremlin supporter and state propagandist, described Ireland as "collateral damage" in a potential nuclear attack by Russia on the UK in any escalation of tensions between the countries over Russia's war on Ukraine.
Two weeks after Russian state TV's Dmitry Kiselyov threatened to "sink the British Isles" with nukes, he's responded to the uproar it caused in Ireland
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 15, 2022
(with subtitles) pic.twitter.com/u94Lx6dIed
While distinguishing between Ireland, a neutral country, and the UK, Kiselyov repeated the assertion in the original report that “the whole British archipelago was basically a sinkable island” and that Russia has “every capability for such a nuclear retaliation”.
Referring to Irish political and public reaction to the original report broadcast at the start of this month, the Russian TV host said: “Ireland literally flew into a rage. Of course as a neutral country, it wasn’t nice for Ireland to become collateral damage in Britain’s clash with Russia.”
The news report, according to a translation tweeted by the BBC digital journalist Francis Scarr who monitors Russian state television, quoted the Taoiseach describing the Russian media report as "very sinister, intimidatory tactics by the Russian Federation".
“I don’t think anyone’s going to be intimidated by it. I think it reflects a mindset that is worrying and not in touch with reality. I think there should be an apology forthcoming,” the Taoiseach was quoted as saying on the Russian programme against a photograph of Mr Martin.
Kiselyov said he completely agreed that an apology should be forthcoming but that it should come from British prime minister Boris Johnson, falsely claiming that the UK leader had made a "groundless threat to strike Russia" that had led to the original report and simulated attack.
“But we’re not intimidating anyone. Talking about capabilities has an anti-war modality. As they say, let’s not start. It will end badly. It’s better to live in peace,” said Kiselyov.
Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South Billy Kelleher said the Russian state-owned station still owed an apology to the Taoiseach and the Irish people over the report and mock attack.
He described the Russia presenter as "a mouthpiece" for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and that "anything said by him were effectively the official views from the Kremlin".
“It shows how delusional their foreign policy is. It shows how removed they are from understanding what neutral countries are,” he said.
“It is indicative of Russia’s view of the world and how they believe they can obliterate a nation if they feel that is necessary to protect themselves even if there is no threat coming from Ireland.”
The reports on the Russian national broadcaster were “outrageous”, “completely unacceptable” and “indicative of the delusional state of the entire Putin regime,” he said.
“We simply cannot have what are official media outlets relaying huge threats to wipe Ireland off the face of the earth, a neutral country that has never once threatened Russia,” he said.
Labour Party foreign affairs spokesman Brendan Howlin TD described the host's comments as "both delusional and menacing on a number of fronts", including how the television station was conflating Ireland and Britain.
“Ireland is a neutral country but as the people of Ireland have very ably demonstrated in the last two months, we are not neutral in relation to the illegal and immoral assault on the people of Ukraine by Putin,” he said.
“We will not be intimidated by grandiose, farcical threats emanating from Russia. This is not a comic book; this is a painful reality for millions of Ukrainians.”
The Russian embassy in Dublin, in response to queries from The Irish Times on the latest programme on Russian state television, repeated the official position of the Russian Federation that “there can be no winners in a nuclear war and that it must never be unleashed”.
