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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been urged to drop a NUCLEAR BOMB on an island off the coast off Scotland to prove Russia means business to the rest of the world.

A top Russian politician made the shock demand to make it clear the Kremlin is serious about proving its military might - and that it is still a major player on the world stage.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky wants Putin to launch a strike at the Faroe Islands - just 200 miles north west of Great Britain - completely wiping it from the map.

He was quoted on a Ukrainian website saying: "In the North Sea there is a small island, a small country of 200,000 people.

"Brussels should say: Look, here is an island. Now there is no island. The country is no longer.

"We should show what our nuclear forces are capable of."

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The far-right Liberal Democratic Party leader called for the bombing during a live broadcast on Russian TV channel Rossia 1.

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It's not clear which North Sea island he was referring to exactly - the Faroe Islands, like Orkney and the Shetland islands are all in the North Sea, but none of them are so heavily populated as he suggests.

(Image: Getty)

His comments come on the back of row which has broken out over the US and NATO establishing a new radar shield in Europe - close to the Black Sea.

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Intended to replace an ageing missile defence system, the West claims the new system switched on Romania last week protects it from missiles that could be fired from the Middle East.

(Image: wikipedia)

The Russians believe it is an act of aggression against them - and Putin has already threatened to step up its forces in reaction.

There has been no comment on Zhirinovsky's request yet from the Kremlin.