In the two-minute clip, the announcer’s voice talks about how devastating the consequences would be if the US nuclear bomb Trident 2 was dropped on Moscow.
The clip has been shared by several local Russian news media and popular channels on the Telegram app. In the Russian posts, the video is described as an American response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine last week with a new type of ballistic robot. Shortly after that attack, Vladimir Putin called the whole thing a test and threatened more similar attacks.
But TV4 Nyheterna can now tell you that the claims in the Russian channels are not true.
The clip actually comes from an 18-minute video uploaded to YouTube on October 26, almost a month before the Russian robot attack on Dnipro. The original video has been published by a popular science YouTube channel called Science Time.
Addresses five scenarios
The film tells about five scenarios in which American, Chinese and Russian nuclear bombs are dropped on different world metropolises. Among other things, it is said that more than 1.5 and 2.7 million people, respectively, would die if the American Trident 2 bomb were to be dropped on Beijing and Moscow. An attack on Washington with the Chinese DF-5C bomb would in turn claim 1.3 million lives.
Russian robots could indeed cause potentially great damage in the United States, but the Russian arsenal is still mostly said to be “impressive on paper.” As an example, the filmmakers mention Russia’s new ballistic robot “Satan 2”, which allegedly exploded on the ground in connection with a test launch.
The film ends with the statement that the real challenge is not about who has the most bombs, but about ensuring that nuclear weapons are never used again.