A prominent Russian propagandist has bizarrely claimed, once again, that Russia should take over the capital city of Portugal. Lisbon, some 2,500 miles away from Moscow, suddenly became the focus of the conversation during the television show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, which has been broadcast by state-owned Russia-1 since 2012.
During the programme, influential journalist and propagandist Mr Solovyov was leading a panel seemingly discussing the state of the economy in Europe.
A clip from the programme was shared on social media platform X by Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
According to Mr Gerashchenko’s translation, the panellists initially joke about “taking Lisbon”. Amid their laughter, a serious Mr Solovyov took the centre stage to say: “Wait a minute, I am not joking.
“The President of the Russian Federation said it’s not about territory, it’s about security. If we need to take Lisbon to ensure security, we’ll do it.”
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This isn’t the first time Lisbon has been discussed by panellists during Mr Solovyov’s programme. Last month, the TV host joked about his outlandish desire to see Russia invade Portugal.
After arguing there “is a reason” why Lisbon should be under Russian control, he laughed and told his panellists: “You don’t need it but I like it very much.”
The Portuguese, he added, “would live just fine as part of the Russian empire”.
During his programme, Mr Solovyov previously launched his attacks against other Western nations, including Germany, guilty of supporting Ukraine with military aid.
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The propagandist also claimed to have “no doubt” a nuclear war between NATO and Russia will happen – but, he optimistically added, it won’t lead to the destruction of humanity.
Should Russia attack one NATO member such as Germany or Portugal, the victim of the aggression could invoke the Western military alliance’s Article 5, which governs the principle of collective defence.
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