Vladimir Putin would welcome the break-up of the United Kingdom, Anas Sarwar has suggested.
The Scottish Labour leader said it was "pretty obvious" the Russian president would be pleased with Nicola Sturgeon's renewed attempts to gain Scottish independence.
Sarwar said: "I think he would support anything which is damaging to his enemies."
READ MORE : Labour would legislate for co-operation between Westminster and Holyrood
Outlining some of Scottish Labour's alternatives to independence, Sarwar said that Scotland ought to be part of an international community and a global block that stands up to Putin.
He said: “Vladimir Putin wants to damage our role and who he regards as his enemies in the world.
“He wants to damage the institutions that stand up to him, he wants to damage the institutions that help to keep global peace and justice, yes, in Ukraine, but also in the wider world.
“And I don’t think at a time when we have despotic leaders like Vladimir Putin we should be projecting an inward-looking UK, I think we should be projecting a united, diverse, changing, modern, reforming, outward-looking international community and I think Scotland should be part of that."
Sarwar was speaking in London to outline Scottish Labour plans to counter Nicola Sturgeon's renewed demands for a second independence referendum.
In the first of a series of papers on the constitution, Sarwar said a Labour government would abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected Senate that would give devolved nations and English regions a voice at the heart of the UK.
Labour would also legislate for formal mechanisms of co-operation between the Westminster and Holyrood governments.
Sarwar said Nicola Sturgeon “wants to pit Scot against Scot for her own obsession” in her renewed push to hold a second referendum on independence.
In a speech hosted by the Fabian Society at Westminster, he said: “While households stared at their soaring energy bills, rising water bills, astronomical prices at the petrol pumps, and steeper costs at the checkout, Nicola Sturgeon prioritised her obsession with division.
“The SNP is trying to drag people back into the arguments of the past because it has no ideas for the future”.
For his London audience Sarwar repeated the message that Labour would never co-operate with the SNP after a general election to get Keir Starmer into Downing Street.
He said: “Regardless of the outcome of the next UK general election, Labour will do no deal with the SNP - no deal, no pact, no behind-closed-doors agreement.”
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