The editor-in-chief of "Novaya Gazeta" and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dmitry Muratov, is worried about how far the Kremlin will go in the confrontation with the West, he writes "BBC".

"Two generations lived without the threat of nuclear war," said Muratov. "But this period is over. Will Putin push the nuclear button or not? Who knows? Nobody knows this. There is not a single person who can say for sure."

Senior officials rejected unsubtle hints that Western countries arming Ukraine should not push Russia too far. A few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Then one of his closest associates, Nikolai Patrushev, warned that Russia had "modern unique weapons capable of destroying any enemy, including the United States."

"We see how state propaganda prepares people to think that nuclear war is not a bad thing," says the Russian Nobel laureate. "The TV channels here promote nuclear war and nuclear weapons as if they were advertising pet food. They announce, "We have this rocket, that rocket, another kind of rocket." They talk about targeting Britain and France, about causing a nuclear tsunami to wash over America. Why do they say this? For people here to be prepared."

On Russian state television recently, a prominent talk show host suggested that Russia "should declare every military target on the territory of France, Poland and the United Kingdom as a legitimate target of Russia."

The same host also suggested "leveling an island with a strategic nuclear weapon and conducting a test launch or firing of a tactical nuclear weapon, so that no one is under any illusions."

"People in Russia are irradiated by propaganda," says Muratov. "Propaganda is a kind of radiation. Everyone is susceptible to it, not just Russians. In Russia, there are twelve TV channels, tens of thousands of newspapers, social media such as VK [the Russian version of Facebook] that completely serve the state ideology.