Bernie Ecclestone has been slammed for his defence of Russian president Vladimir Putin after he said he would "take a bullet" for him.
The former Formula 1 boss told Good Morning Britain (GMB) that he believed Putin was a "first-class person" and that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky should have done more to avert the war.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was asked about the 91-year-old's comments saying they were "absolutely extraordinary".
She said: "I think those comments are extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary.
"This is a man who has perpetrated that appalling war involving the systematic rape of women, the targeting of civilians in shopping centres.
"I find those comments absolutely extraordinary by Bernie Ecclestone. Clearly, Vladimir Putin is toxic. The Prime Minister is right to say that.
"I find the apologists for Putin when people can see on their TV screens, the appalling things that are happening on the ground in Ukraine, the appalling suffering of the Ukrainian people. I find that absolutely shocking."
Her comments come after Ecclestone said he still regards Putin as a friend and he replied: "I'd still take a bullet for him. I'd rather it didn't hurt, but if it does I'd still take a bullet, because he's a first-class person.
"What he's doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia.
"Unfortunately, he's like a lot of business people, certainly like me, we make mistakes from time to time. When you've made the mistake, you have to do the best you can to get out of it.
"I think if it had been conducted properly, I mean the other person in Ukraine, I mean, his profession, I understand, he used to be a comedian.
"I think he seems as if he wants to continue that profession, because I think if he'd have thought about things, he would have definitely made a big enough effort to speak to Mr Putin, who is a sensible person and would have listened to him and could have probably done something about it."
On President Zelensky, GMB presenter Kate Garraway said: "So just to understand you clearly, you think that President Zelensky should have done more to avert this war and it could have been avoided by Zelensky's actions, not by a change in Putin's actions?"
Ecclestone replied: "Absolutely."
It was put to Ecclestone that he surely could not justify the actions of Putin and the deaths of thousands of people.
"I don't. It wasn't intentional," he replied.
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