Episode Overview

Podcast: The Tucker Carlson Show
Episode Title: Breaking News: Russia Will Nuke Germany & the UK if Ukraine War Continues, Warns Top Putin Advisor
Date: January 15, 2026
Theme:
This episode delivers an urgent warning about escalating global tensions, particularly centered on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Tucker Carlson asserts that Western policymakers are ignoring explicit Russian threats of nuclear retaliation, especially against Germany and the United Kingdom, if the war continues. The episode features a lengthy interview with Sergei Karaganov, a veteran Russian political adviser, who bluntly outlines scenarios in which Russia would initiate nuclear strikes on European capitals.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Rapidly Shifting Global Order

[00:00–07:45]

• Carlson opens with a roundup of critical world events: looming US strikes on Iran, US seizure of Greenland, and regime change in Venezuela, emphasizing uncertainty and the potential for catastrophic outcomes in each case.
• The central focus shifts quickly to Eastern Europe:

  "Russia is actively considering the use of nuclear weapons against Europe. Not against Kiev, against Europe. Specifically the UK and Germany. Just taking out the UK and Germany with nuclear weapons. That's a fact." (Carlson, 07:20)

2. Russian Nuclear Posturing and Policy

[07:45–10:43]

• Russia has updated its nuclear doctrine, broadening the scenarios under which it will use nuclear weapons, now including non-nuclear NATO countries acting as proxies for the US.
• Hypersonic missile attacks on Kyiv are interpreted as warnings from Russia to Europe:

  "The next one will have a nuclear warhead on it and it's coming at you, Europe." (Carlson, 09:30)

3. Western Management of the Ukraine War

[10:43–16:16]

• Carlson criticizes Western "proxy war" management in Ukraine, arguing that most decision-makers don't actually care about Ukrainian lives.

• Presents a 10-year-old clip of Chrystia Freeland (Canadian politician) and George Soros discussing their influence on post-Maidan Ukrainian leadership, suggesting Ukraine is administered by foreign interests.

  Notable quote:

  "Everyone running the country is actually employed by this Hungarian billionaire who's got nothing to do with the country. ... You put everybody in a country's leadership on your payroll. To what end?" (Carlson, 17:31)

4. Historical Context: West vs. Russia

[16:17–29:00]

• Explores the historical pattern of foreign attempts to control Russia for its vast resources.
• Contrasts post-Soviet chaos and Western-backed looting of Russia, and credits Putin for reasserting state control, tying Russia’s resilience to its resource wealth.

5. Critique of Western Leaders & Sanctions Policy

[35:57–46:00]

• Uses past clips of US politicians (e.g., John McCain, Lindsey Graham) mocking Russia as "a gas station with nuclear weapons," rejecting this as both ignorant and dangerous underestimation.
• Argues that sanctions have backfired, damaging the US dollar’s status and driving Russia towards China.
• Notable quote:

  "Sanctions did not punish Vladimir Putin. They punished the United States. And they completely destroyed Europe..." (Carlson, 46:00)

6. Western Recklessness and Calls for Regime Change

[46:00–54:22]

• Carlson denounces calls from US senators to assassinate Putin as both immoral and strategically idiotic, arguing that chaos in Russia would be even more dangerous for the world.
• Criticizes the entire Western foreign policy elite as intellectually and morally bankrupt, asserting the West is now at risk of literal destruction due to its policies.

Sergei Karaganov Interview

Introduction

[54:22–54:33]

• Sergei Karaganov, longtime Putin advisor, joins remotely from Moscow, described as having a track record of accurate, if alarming, predictions.

1. Russia’s Framing of the War: A Civilizational Conflict

[54:33–61:14]

• Karaganov frames the war as not Russia vs. Ukraine, but Russia vs. Europe—the "source of all evil in the history of humanity."

  "We are fighting not Ukraine, not Zelensky... We are fighting again there Europe..." (Karaganov, 54:46)

• European elites, he claims, need this war to maintain their legitimacy and survive politically.

2. On Defeating Europe: What It Means

[57:18–61:14]

• Karaganov dismisses the possibility of Russia’s defeat, warning that an existential crisis would trigger nuclear strikes against Europe:

  "Just if Russia comes ever close to a defeat, that would mean that Russia now would use nuclear weapons and the Europe will be finished physically." (Karaganov, 61:00)

3. Europe’s Leadership and Moral Decay

[61:14–67:49]

• Europe is "a joke," having lost both its economic strength and intellectual class—"dangerous idiots or moral idiots" now lead.

• He asserts Europeans no longer fear nuclear war or God, having lost their "core moral, political, spiritual core."

  Notable quote:

  "They lost much... Europe has lost its core moral, political, spiritual core. ... They have brought nazism, which was anti human etc. Now they have brought to us...something absolute anti human." (Karaganov, 68:00)

4. The Nuclear Threat: Specifics and Scenario

[71:42–79:50]

• Asked directly about Russia’s nuclear plans, Karaganov gives the starkest warning:

  "If [Putin] were to be assassinated... Europe will be taken away from the map of humanity... we would have to start to attack Europe with conventional weapons and then next step will be waves of nuclear strikes. ... My choice would be Britain and Germany." (Karaganov, 73:44 and 78:34)

• He suggests a timeline of "one or two years" for such escalation if war continues at current pace.

5. The Russia-China Alliance & Global Reordering

[79:50–82:49]

• Sees Russia-China partnership as a permanent feature "for the foreseeable future."
• Envisions a new "four powers" system: US, China, India, Russia as co-equal global stewards, with Europe absent.

6. Russia’s Soul and Direction

[82:49–85:30]

• Russia, he claims, is neither European nor Asian, but a unique civilizational fusion and spiritual inheritor of Christian Orthodoxy, Islamic, Buddhist, and Judaic threads.
• Rejoices in the return of "Russian culture, our Russian soul," seeing sanctions as a strategic gift that purged Western influence.

7. Western (Especially American) Role in the Conflict

[87:40–93:45]

• Blames US policymakers for provoking the conflict, especially by preventing a Russia-Germany alliance and expanding NATO.

• Is skeptical of US and Trump’s offers for peace, viewing them as insincere or impossible due to American domestic division.

  "If we stop this war, we should be prepared when the war resumes to do away with the source of this war. And that is — hostility of European elites and their willingness to fuel warfare on the European subcontinent." (Karaganov, 92:30)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Russia is actively considering the use of nuclear weapons against Europe. Not against Kiev, against Europe. Specifically the UK and Germany."
  (Carlson, 07:20)

• "We are fighting not Ukraine, not Zelensky... We are fighting again there Europe, which has been the source of all ills and all sources of evil in the history of humanity."
  (Karaganov, 54:46)

• "Just if Russia comes ever close to a defeat, that would mean that Russia now would use nuclear weapons and the Europe will be finished physically."
  (Karaganov, 61:00)

• "If [Putin] were to be assassinated...Europe will be taken away from the map of humanity... we would have to start to attack Europe with conventional weapons and then next step will be waves of nuclear strikes."
  (Karaganov, 73:44)

• "My choice would be Britain and Germany."
  (Karaganov, 79:19)

• "Sanctions did not punish Vladimir Putin. They punished the United States. And they completely destroyed Europe..."
  (Carlson, 46:00)

• "Any weapon is a sin, but using nuclear weapons is a double sin."
  (Karaganov, 74:51)

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Opening: Global context—Iran, Greenland, Venezuela | | 07:20 | Russia’s nuclear threat against Europe | | 09:30 | Hypersonic missile warning to Europe | | 17:05 | Freeland/Soros clip: Western influence in Ukraine | | 35:57 | Western leaders call Russia "a gas station" | | 46:00 | Effect of sanctions and harm to the West | | 54:22 | Sergei Karaganov interview begins | | 57:18 | Defining "defeating Europe" | | 61:00 | Nuclear use if Russia is threatened | | 67:49 | Europe’s "loss of God" and moral decay | | 73:44 | What happens if Putin is assassinated | | 75:34 | Timeline for possible nuclear use: 1–2 years | | 79:19 | First targets would be UK and Germany | | 88:00 | Trump/US administration’s ability (and limits) to broker peace | | 93:57 | Conclusion of interview and episode |

Tone and Language

• Tucker Carlson's language is urgent, alarmist, and heavily critical of Western leadership, with frequent appeals to history and irony.
• Sergei Karaganov is blunt, polemical, sometimes philosophical, and deeply hostile toward current European elites.
• The atmosphere is one of imminent threat and righteous condemnation, punctuated by dark humor and dramatic historical analogies.

Summary

This episode of The Tucker Carlson Show is a clarion call about what Carlson frames as the most urgent global crisis: the credible Russian threat of nuclear strikes on Western Europe should the Ukraine war continue. Through detailed monologues and a revealing interview with Sergei Karaganov, Carlson drives home the point that the West—especially Europe—is both dangerously deluded about Russia’s resolve and ignoring clear signals from Russian intellectual and political elites. Karaganov outlines the logic, moral worldview, and tangible scenarios in which Russia would target Germany and the UK with nuclear weapons, insisting that only a fundamental change in Western policy and leadership could avert disaster.

For listeners seeking to understand why Russian nuclear threats are now at the center of geopolitical discourse—and why, according to this episode, Western governments and media are catastrophically unmoved—this episode is required listening.