Russia will have "to punish Europe severely" if the continent continues to support Ukraine, Sergey Karaganov, a former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said. Speaking to Tucker Carlson, Karaganov threatened Ukraine's closest allies in Europe, including the UK, with nuclear annihilation. 

Now the head of Russia’s Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, he said Europe defeating Russia is a "fantastic illusion", blaming it on the "intellectual incapacity" of European leaders. He said: "What is defeat of Russia? If Russia comes ever close to a defeat, that would mean that Russia now would use nuclear weapons and Europe would be finished physically.

"So I mean, it’s simply impossible even to think about it, but they have been talking because they need a war to rationalise their stay in power, to rationalise their existence.

"Everybody in the world now laughs at Europe, which used to be, by the way, one of the core centers of world power. Now it’s a joke. And of course, I am not speaking of all Europe. We know that there are decent Europeans. There are smart Europeans."