A key Russian propagandist has issued a chilling warning to Donald Trump, provoking fears of a possible nuclear conflict between the US and Russia. Tensions remain high between Moscow and Washington, as the White House prepares to take tougher action on Vladimir Putin over his refusal to engage seriously with peace talks on Ukraine.

Although Russia and Ukraine are set to meet on Wednesday afternoon in Turkey for further talks, no breakthrough in negotiations is expected. Putin has once again sent a low-level delegation to the talks headed by the former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky. Prior to the delegation’s departure for Istanbul, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned it would be difficult to achieve progress. Trump has become increasingly frustrated with Putin’s stalling tactics, accusing the Kremlin chief of talking a “lot of bull****”.

The US President has ruffled Kremlin feathers by agreeing to supply further military aid to Ukraine, as well as threatening to impose 100% tariffs on any country buying Russian oil.

Trump’s actions have provoked a full-scale propaganda onslaught from the Kremlin, with Putin apparatchiks taking to the airwaves to rain down threats and insults on the US leader and his allies.

In the latest episode of Trump bashing, the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT made an appearance on Vladimir Solovyov’s talk show on the channel Russia 1.

Margarita Simonyan told her host: “They (US and NATO) have no reason to stop and until they do, they won’t. The only thing that can stop them is an imminent threat – a direct, unavoidable danger beyond what they consider acceptable. And a nuclear threat – anywhere – would be absolutely unacceptable. You mentioned the Stalin Strait.

“One famous American general once said something similar. If the United States were to strike the Soviet Union with all its nuclear might, the Soviet Union would still have enough power left to turn the United States into a strait between two great oceans.”

The 45-year-old Kremlin apparatchik then menacingly added that there will come a time when “we’ll have to use this threat”.

The UK government has sanctioned Simonyan in the wake of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as have the EU and Kyiv.