Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russia Today TV channel, has sparked criticism in Russia after she suggested detonating a nuclear bomb over Siberia, The Moscow Times reports.

She did this during an 8-minute monologue, which she recorded and published a day ago on her page “X” (formerly Twitter), where she said in one place that the victory over Ukraine will not be achieved as “easily and painlessly” , as the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

According to Newsweek, Simonyan said that a “nuclear ultimatum” from the West “is becoming inevitable” because “they will not back down until they feel a lot of pain.”

The head of Russia Today quoted Volodymyr Zhirinovsky, the late Russian ultranationalist politician, who advocated a “coup against Washington.” But she said that striking one of Russia’s partners with a nuclear bomb, the leitmotif of Russian propagandists, is unnecessary.

Instead, Simonian proposed that Russia detonate a thermonuclear weapon “several hundred kilometers above our territory, somewhere in Siberia,” arguing that such a nuclear explosion would not affect those on the ground.

She justified the move by saying it would “destroy all radio communications” and affect satellites and mobile phones, sending the world “back to 1993”, a time Simonian described as “wonderful”.

“There is an option and it is the most humane,” she emphasized regarding her proposed measure.

There is outrage in Siberia after Margarita Simonyan’s comments

Several officials in this large Russian region strongly condemned the Russia Today boss’ comments after they went viral online.

Deputy from the CPRF in the Moscow parliament, Maria Prusakova, declared a “deep resentment” against all Siberians.

“You should at least apologize to the people of Siberia,” she told Simonyan on Wednesday.

Anatoly Lokot, the mayor of Novosibirsk, Siberia’s largest city, was alarmed by the Russia Today chief’s comments, warning that such a nuclear explosion over Russian territory could have unforeseen consequences that would last “thousands of years.”

“There’s nothing good about thermonuclear explosions,” he said, recalling his physics background to lend weight to his words.

Mykola Korolev, a local official in the Moscow region, announced that he had submitted a request to Russia’s Investigative Committee to investigate Simonyan’s claims to see if they violated Russian law.

The Kremlin distanced itself from the claims of the head of Russia Today, Ramzan Kadyrov, and came to her defense

Since Tuesday, the Kremlin has distanced itself from its claims through the voice of Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, who reminded that Russia has not withdrawn from the international agreement that bans nuclear tests in the atmosphere.

“At the moment, we have not yet left the regime of refusing nuclear tests,” Peskov said in a comment to a press release published by the RIA Novosti agency. “It hasn’t happened so far, so I don’t think such discussions are possible from an official point of view,” he added.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, one of President Putin’s closest allies, also commented on the issue, saying in a Telegram post that RT’s editor-in-chief “is not so stupid as to suggest a nuclear strike on his own territory.”

He added that, speaking in principle, Simonyan expressed a “patriotic position” and called on her critics to “do useful work and make a tangible contribution (…) to the fight against NATO and neo-Nazism” in Ukraine.

The head of Chechnya also reminded that only the president of Russia has the right to authorize nuclear tests.

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