Russian television host Dmitriy Kiselyov attempted to clarify what President Vladimir Putin meant when he threatened the United States with retaliation during his to the Federation Council, the Russian parliament. Putin declared that should Washington deploy intermediate-range missiles in Europe, Russia would be forced to strike at key “decision-making centers” in the United States. He then spoke of Russia’s progress in developing a hypersonic missile, the Tsirkon, which Moscow claims would have a range of 1,000 km and move with a speed of 11,000 km.
Russian TV host and CEO of the Kremlin’s media arm Rossiya Segodnya, Kiselyov, who is reportedly close to Putin, was quick to identify the U.S. military located along the East and West coasts. But he blundered, listing nonexistent military bases as Russian targets and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov immediately distanced the government from war scenarios presented on its own state-owned television outlet.
“We never interfere and cannot interfere in the editorial policy of our television channels, even the state ones. Therefore, in this case, the question must be addressed directly to the television channels,” said .
Kiselyov listed the Pentagon as the defense department’s headquarters and Camp David, as the command center of the U.S. president and the Joint Chief of Staff..
But the remainder of Kiselyov’s list seems to not have been updated for at least two decades. Two of the military facilities he named were closed more than twenty years ago and he misrepresented the functions of the third base.
Kiselyov claimed that the U.S. military decision-making centers are “Fort Ritchie, Maryland, the command post of the American President and the command center for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On the West Coast is McClellan (California), where is the command center of the strategic offensive forces, and Jim Creek (Washington) hosting the nuclear command control center.” He then described in detail how Russia’s prospective hypersonic missile, the Tsirkon, would “eliminate them in seconds.”
The former U.S. military base Fort Ritchie was closed in September 1998 pursuant to the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. It is now a census-designated location in Washington County, Maryland, with a population of 314 according to the U.S. Census tabulations for State of in 2010.
The Maryland National Guard built in 1926 as a training ground. During World War II, it was designated as a War Department Military Intelligence Training Center, where 20,000 intelligence troops were housed and trained over a four-year period. From 1964 to 1975, the post was used as a support installation and eventually headquarters for the 7th Signal Command. In 1995, Fort Ritchie was placed on the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list; all military activity ceased by 1998.
The base was never “a command center of the President of the United States and the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” as Kiselyov claimed. But the TV host apparently failed to check the status of the former base before announcing the Russian target in Maryland.
Kiselyev made the same blunder in naming the former McClellan Air Force Base, located near Sacramento, California, which has been closed for 18 years. In fact, it has been converted to a public airport general aviation airport.
“As is part of McClellan Park, Sacramento is one of the most successful conversions of a former military base in the country,” says the airport’s website.
The Pentagon slated McClellan Air Force Base for closure in 1993, after serving as the pivotal supply depot on the West coast during World War II and later as one of the five repair and maintenance depots for military aircraft. The Air Force base provided major logistical repair and maintenance support for the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Operation Desert Shield/ Storm.
But McClelland was never a “command center of the strategic offensive forces” of the United States as Kiselyov claims, although it employed 4,250 military personnel and 17,652 civilians at the height of the war effort.
Kiselyov’s last gaffe was to claim that Jim Creek is a nuclear command control center. The base actually consists of the and a recreation park for military personnel. The radio station is as a very low frequency (VLF) radio transmitter facility with its main mission to communicate orders one-way to submarines of the Pacific fleet while submerged. Its daily functions are controlled by the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station (NCTAMS) Pacific Command.
The local newspaper in the area, the , describes it as “a relatively obscure U.S. military site” in an article about the Kiselyov broadcast.