Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech on Wednesday was a worrying escalation, and the threats he made must be taken seriously, British foreign office minister Gillian Keegan said.

Mr Putin ordered Russia’s first military mobilisation since World War II, warning the West that if it continued what he called its “nuclear blackmail,” Moscow would respond with the might of all its vast arsenal.

“Clearly, it’s something that we should take very seriously because, you know, we’re not in control – I’m not sure he’s in control either, really,” Ms Keegan told Sky News. “This is obviously an escalation.” 

In a separate interview, Ms Keegan told BBC, “It is chilling … It’s a serious threat, but one that has been made before.”

Mr Putin restated his objective was to “liberate” eastern Ukraine’s Donbas industrial heartland and that most people in the region did not want to return to what he called the “yoke” of Ukraine.

“The overall address clearly was more of Putin’s lies. It was a rewriting of history,” Ms Keegan said. 

(Reuters/NAN)