Western media just got played - Russians sent a huge warning to the Pentagon to try to head off a U.S. pre-emptive first strike.

Secret design plans of a huge Russian nuclear torpedo were accidentally broadcast on two Kremlin-controlled television stations during ordinary news bulletins.

During a piece reporting a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his military high command, the camera cut away to a general staring at plans of the torpedo system, in which the name, basic layout and capabilities are clearly visible.

The document, which was on screen for several seconds, shows drawings and descriptions of a weapon labelled as the “Ocean Multi-purpose System ‘Status 6’” -- a very large, self-propelled torpedo carrying an exceptionally powerful nuclear warhead.

The Kremlin later confirmed that the shots should not have been broadcast.

“It’s true some secret data got in front of the camera lenses, therefore, it was subsequently deleted,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitrii Peskov, said in a briefing.

The two TV stations, NTV and the main state network Channel 1, removed the images from their pieces, but some websites published screenshots.