Vladimir Putin has gone "full tonto" over the Ukraine crisis but the UK can kick Russia's "backside", the UK's Defence Secretary claimed today.
Top Tory Ben Wallace spoke out as the UK announced it will "shortly" send a new package of defensive weapons to Ukraine - and the broadcast licence for Russian "propaganda" channel RT is now under review.
Boris Johnson announced sanctions on five banks and three oligarchs yesterday after President Vladimir Putin said he would send troops into two breakaway regions, with nearly 200,000 massing near Ukraine's borders.
But the sanctions were branded not strong enough by MPs across the House of Commons as the three billionaires were already sanctioned by the US. Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich was not targeted despite Boris Johnson wrongly suggesting otherwise.
Mr Wallace's unguarded comments came during a chat with military personnel at the Horse Guards building in Westminster. He compared the Russian president to Tsar Nicholas I during the Crimean War as he "had no friend, no alliances".
The former Scots Guards officer added his regiment had "kicked the backside" of the Tsar in the Crimea and "we can always do it again".
Mr Wallace said: "It's going to be a busy Army. Unfortunately we've got a busy adversary now in Putin, who has gone full tonto."
He said the UK has 1,000 personnel on stand-by to respond to the crisis, adding: "The Scots Guards kicked the backside of Tsar Nicholas I in 1853 in Crimea - we can always do it again."
Mr Wallace added: "Tsar Nicholas I made the same mistake Putin did... he had no friends, no alliances."
His comments came after Boris Johnson told MPs on Tuesday that the Russian President was of "an illogical and irrational frame of mind".
Asked if Ben Wallace’s comments about Putin now being “full tonto” were the view of the UK government, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman replied: “The Defence Secretary is more astute to make that judgement than I am.”
The Prime Minister's spokesman added: “Putin’s actions are clearly designed to establish a pretext for a full-scale invasion… We think that will be likely, but our focus clearly is on de-escalation.”
No10 went on: “We have every reason to believe there are Russian troops in the Donbass region.”
Asked if Vladimir Putin was “insane”, Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “I’m not going to seek to give a clinical assessment on something like that. I think we believe he is acting irrationally. I don’t think any rational actor could look at the complete lack of provocation, both from Ukraine and NATO which is a defensive body at its heart, and conclude that Russia or Russian people are in any way under threat.”
It came as Boris Johnson announced today that the UK will send further defensive weapons to Ukraine.
The Prime Minister said: "I can announce to the House that in light of the increasingly threatening behaviour from Russia and in line with our previous support, the UK will shortly be providing a further package of military support to Ukraine.
"This will include lethal aid in the form of defensive weapons and non-lethal aid."
There is no suggestion the UK's own Army troops would be sent into Ukraine, which is not a NATO member. They have however been sent to neighbouring countries Estonia and Poland.
Boris Johnson also revealed the Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, has asked for a review of the licence of Russian TV channel RT.
Labour leader Keir Starmer told the House of Commons: "We must also do more to defeat Putin's campaign of lies and disinformation.
"Russia Today is his personal propaganda tool. I can see no reason why it should be allowed to continue to broadcast in this country."
Mr Johnson replied: "I believe that [Nadine Dorries] has already asked Ofcom to review that matter, but what I will say [...] is that we live in a democracy and a country that believes in free speech.
"And I think it important that we should leave it up to Ofcom rather than to politicians to decide which media organisations to ban. That's what Russia does."
Earlier, Mr Wallace told reporters he was keeping the possibility of sending further weapons to Ukraine "under constant review", adding: "We're in a pretty good position to deliver any type of aid pretty quickly to Ukraine, no matter what that aid is."
He suggested that Russian forces invading Ukraine could be followed by a mobile crematorium to help disguise the number of casualties inflicted during the potential war.
"Fundamentally, when you have over 60% of your combat forces poised on the borders of another state, the overwhelming scale of the Russian intimidation and forces - including some pretty horrendous weapons systems - are pretty worrying.
"And we also expect to see some of the things they've done previously. Previously, they've deployed mobile crematoriums to follow troops around the battlefield, which in anyone's book is chilling.
"If I was a soldier, and knew that my generals had so little faith in me that they followed me around the battlefield in a mobile crematorium, or I was the mother or a father of a son, potentially deployed into a combat zone, and my government thought that the way to cover up loss was a mobile crematorium - I'd be deeply, deeply worried."
Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen is holding a meeting in Downing Street this afternoon with City firms, regulators and trade associations and Boris Johnson may drop in.
But No10 admitted sanctions on Duma members are still being “finalised”, with the Foreign Office gathering evidence, despite calls to go faster.
Downing Street insisted the UK was not behind the US or EU. The PM’s spokesman said: “It’s important to see these measures as a whole package spread across NATO which are closely co-ordinated.”
