Another Russian lawmaker makes another World War III threat: London was one of the first cities to suffer (and survive) a serious bombing campaign, and beginning on September 7, 1940, the British capital endured 57 consecutive nights of bombing, which has become known as “The Blitz.” The aerial campaign against London continued until May 1941, and it changed the landscape of the city. Many famous landmarks – including Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, and the Tower of London – took damage, while some areas were so badly damaged they had to be almost entirely rebuilt after the war.
Should the UK find itself in another war, London would certainly be in the crosshairs again – and if Andrey Gurulyov, a member of the Russian parliament’s defense committee, the city would be the first to be bombed should World War III break out.
Gurulyov, a close ally of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, issued the chilling warning on Russian state TV this week. Speaking on Moscow’s Channel 1, which is essentially a propaganda machine for Putin and the Kremlin, Gurulyov also suggested that the only way to keep the west from blockading the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad was to invade and occupy the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
Of course, as all three are NATO members, such a move would almost certainly trigger NATO’s article five – which states that an attack on one is an attack on all. That would result in the start of the Third World War, yet the 54-year-old Gurulyov, who holds the rank of Lt. General in the Russian military, didn’t even dismiss such a notion. Instead, he almost seemed to relish the very idea of an open conflict with the west.
“We’ll destroy the entire group of enemy’s space satellites during the first air operation,” said Gurulyov. His words should be seen as more than mere saber-rattling, given the fact that he also represents United Russia, the main pro-Vladimir Putin political party.
“No one will care if they are American or British, we would see them all as NATO,” he added. “Second, we’ll mitigate the entire system of anti-missile defense, everywhere and 100 percent.”
World War III Threats: London in the Bomb Sights
Gurulyov was also direct in which city he’d like to see attacked first, namely London.
“Third, we certainly won’t start from Warsaw, Paris or Berlin,” Gurulyov continued. “The first to be hit will be London. It’s crystal clear that the threat to the world comes from the Anglo-Saxons.”
As with many other hardliners in Russia, Gurulyov shares the opinion that many in the west, especially in Europe, would have no stomach for a real war. There is a deep belief that NATO would crack, and the United States and the UK would be abandoned by their allies. It is a dangerous opinion, and he could certainly underestimate the resolve – but many in the Kremlin also expected that Russian forces would quickly overrun Ukraine.
“As part of the operation to destroy critically important sites, Western Europe will be cut off from power supplies and immobilized,” Gurulyov suggested. “All power supply sites will be destroyed. And in the third stage, I shall see what the USA will tell Western Europe on continuing their fight in the cold, without food and electricity.”
World War III Threats: Strike Now Not Later
Despite Russia’s inability to even defeat Ukraine, Gurulyov is among those in the Russian leadership who believe that the Kremlin should strike sooner than later against the west, starting what would likely be World War III. He went so far as to call for a quick attack through the Suwałki Gap, which separates the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea from Belarus. The Putin toady added, “I wonder how [the US] will manage to stay aside. This is the rough plan, and I deliberately leave out certain moments because they are not to be discussed on TV.”
Gurulyov, who is a former deputy commander of Russia’s southern military district, and had served with Russian forces in Syria, also made it clear that he would like to see the Baltic States returned to Moscow’s control.
“We calmly….turn Vilnius (Lithuania) back into Vilno, remind ourselves what is Reval [the Tsarist name for Tallinn, capital of Estonia], and free up the right Baltic flank, so we don’t worry that we can be hit from the back,” he added.
For the good of the world, Gurulyov really needs to go to the front line in Ukraine and get a closer look at the situation on the ground. He should wear his flashiest uniform for good measure, and hopefully, he’d soon be in good company with some of Russia’s other generals – namely those killed by Ukrainian snipers.
Now a Senior Editor for 1945, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes.
