VLADIMIR Putin’s top crony has accused NATO of seeking a first strike nuclear "decapitation" of the tyrant.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov bizarrely claimed NATO has agreed to a demand by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for a preventative nuclear strike to end the war.

The veteran foreign minister is a close ally of Putin and one of the most hawkish supporters of the invasion of Ukraine.

He is the subject of Western sanctions and in November was rushed to hospital at the G20 summer.

In an interview with the TASS state news agency, he accused the US and its allies of hankering after a nuclear first strike on Russia to take out Putin.

He clained “there some ‘unnamed officials’ from the Pentagon actually threatened to inflict a ‘decapitation blow’ on the Kremlin, but in fact it is a threat to physically eliminate the head of the Russian state”.

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“If such ideas are actually hatched by someone, this someone should think very carefully about the possible consequences of such plans.”

The strategy of decapitation is the military tactic of launching a blow against an enemy’s leadership to prevent it fighting effectively.

Ironically it was the Russian’s plan at the start of the Ukraine was when its forces launched a botched attempt to take Kyiv in the opening hours of the conflict.

He also claimed that NATO has reached an agreement with Ukraine’s president for a nuclear pre-emptive strike.

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“Volodymyr Zelensky has reached an agreement to demand preventive nuclear strikes by NATO countries against Russia,” he said.
“This also goes beyond the bounds of what is acceptable.”

He bizarrely accused former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who he described as “flamboyant”, of wanting a first strike against Russia,

Lavrov claimed that she said “straight away in public during her pre-election campaign that she was ready to order a nuclear strike”.

The Russian foreign minister also said NATO together with Ukraine want to defeat Russia "on the battlefield" in order to destroy it.

"It is no secret to anyone that the strategic goal of the United States and its NATO allies is to defeat Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism for significantly weakening or even destroying our country."

But he also issued an ultimatum to Ukraine comply with Russia’s demands so surrender territory for its “own good”.

“The point is simple – fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army,” Lavrov said.

He also reiterated that Russia and the United States cannot maintain normal relations under the administration of the U.S. President Joe Biden.

"It is objectively impossible to maintain normal communication with the Biden administration, which declares the infliction of a strategic defeat on our country as a goal," he said.

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Meanwhile, longtime close Putin ally Medvedev has predicted oil could soar to $150 per barrel with gas jumping to $5,000 per 1,000 cubic metres, crippling Western economies.

Among what he said were "futuristic hypotheses” he predicted the euro could collapse as the EU fell apart “after the return of the UK”.

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