Russian news anchor: Russia could obliterate America into 'radioactive dust'

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Russian news anchor: Russia could obliterate America into 'radioactive dust'
(Image credit: YouTube)

Apparently not so thrilled with the United States' condemnation of Russia's decision to seize control of the Crimean peninsula via an election, a news anchor on the state-backed news network Russia 1 reminded viewers Sunday night that Russia is "the only country in the world capable of turning the U.S.A. into radioactive dust."

The comments came from Dmitry K. Kiselyov, an anchor who was handpicked by his friend Vladimir Putin to manage Russia Today. Kiselyov's words were matched a with a radioactive plume exploding on a gigantic screen behind him. The firebrand rhetoric is not out of the ordinary for Kiselyov, who's well known for his "mad as hell" diatribes, but it still "stunned" viewers.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.