No10 dismisses baseless Moscow claims that Boris Johnson made nuclear threat 

• Accusation was made on a chat show on Rossiya 1, Russian state-run TV channel 
• They said PM signalled he would launch deadly strike ‘without consulting Nato’
• No10 said claim was ‘another example of disinformation peddled by the Kremlin’ 

Downing Street last night rejected claims on Russian state TV that Boris Johnson threatened to carry out a nuclear strike against Russia. 

The accusation was made on a chat show on Rossiya 1, a state-run TV channel based in Moscow, and widely circulated on pro-Kremlin social media channels and news websites over the weekend. 

Presenter Olga Skabeyeva said last week that the Prime Minister had signalled he would launch the deadly strike ‘without consulting Nato’. 

However, last night Downing Street said these claims were ‘another example of disinformation peddled by the Kremlin’. 

A statement added: ‘The UK Government is entirely united with its Nato allies in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion.’ 

However, the baseless claim has already been propagated by a number of official figures and has run on pro-Kremlin news websites such as Pravda, and prompted threats of a counter-attack on the UK. 

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, tweeted the baseless claim last week to his 800,000 followers.

He then threatened: ‘Boris, if “Sarmat” [the world’s most powerful missile dubbed Satan II] is used, none of you will “consult with each other.”

‘And there will be no one to style your hair, Mr. Prime Minister. Yes, and there will be nothing to lay.’

Vladimir Soloyvov, an anchor on Rossiya 1, had also shared the claim to more than one million followers on Telegram.

It has since run on a number of pro-Kremlin news websites, such as Pravda. A harrowing image on one pro-Russian Telegram channel of London in flames was accompanied by the message: ‘He should know what his nuclear strike on Russia would look like in reality.’

The rhetoric has already spread to Russian lawmakers, with one MP telling state TV this weekend: ‘Consider the statement about the possibility of a nuclear strike against Russia without consulting Nato.

‘Listen, we can carry out a nuclear strike against Great Britain without consultations with Nato.

‘Great Britain is a prime target for that. It is an island nation, which would minimise the damage to the continent.’

Vladimir Putin’s regime has already announced it will be ready to deploy the nuclear-capable ‘Satan II’ weapon, said to be the world’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, by autumn.