One of Vladimir Putin’s top propagandists has issued a horrifying warning to “strike these dirtbags” in an explosive argument about attacking England. TV host Vladimir Solovyov erupted into a fiery rant during his show, Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, where he clashed with State Duma deputy Leonid Kalashnikov.

Kalashnikov suggested that Russia strike England using “a proxy”, comparing the action to that of Iran and the Houthis. He said: “When you give an example of England, or our threats to bomb factories, I always say let’s borrow the best ideas from Iran and act through proxies.

“We currently have these kinds of proxies, like Iran itself. We don’t have to bang these factories ourselves; it would be too provocative. It’s war, after all. So let’s pretend, like you say, with tankers. Let our proxies carry out the strikes.”

He raged: “Listen, are you a Communist or not? Stop fearing war! Are you a Communist or not? The first step is to strike these dirtbags and not hide behind anyone’s back.

“When I was joining the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, I was taught to speak openly and honestly. If this is our enemy, we destroy him.”

He said: “The scariest thing that will happen is that Trump will use nuclear weapons and understand that this is not a cure-all.

“The size of Iran as a country is such that, regardless of what kind of nuclear weapons you use, unless you immediately start to hammer it with an insane quantity of strategic weapons, which would impact all of its neighbours afterwards, Iran will respond.

“The last restriction will fall. The world will move into a phase when everyone who has it will trade nuclear strikes. This is a totally different life. The level of escalation will increase momentarily.”