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Vladimir Putin raised the stakes over Ukraine by putting his nuclear arsenal on high alert in response to “unfriendly steps”. And the Kremlin yesterday blamed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat as it accused her of making “unacceptable” statements after the invasion of Ukraine.

Ms Truss had warned that if Putin was not stopped in Ukraine, “we are going to see others under threat – the Baltics, Poland, Moldova, and it could end up in a conflict with Nato”.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace yesterday revealed his 12-year-old son called him about the prospect of a nuclear war between Russia and the West.

He said: “Well, Dad says, no, we’re not going to have a nuclear war.

“We don’t see or recognise in the sort of phrase or the status he described as anything that is a change to what they have currently as their nuclear posture.

“This is predominantly about Putin putting it on the table just to remind people, remind the world, that he has a deterrent.

“We will not do anything to escalate in that area, we will not do anything to feed any miscalculation, we take it very, very seriously.

“But at the moment this is a battle of rhetoric that President Putin is deploying, and we just have to make sure we manage it properly.

“It is a big attempt to distract away from his troubles in Ukraine by just deploying into the media space these phrases.”

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, said it was Ms Truss, the Foreign Secretary, who prompted Putin to put his nuclear arsenal on standby on Sunday.

“Statements were made by various representatives at various levels on possible altercations or even collisions and clashes between Nato and Russia,” Mr Peskov said.

“We believe that such statements are absolutely unacceptable. I would not call the authors of these statements by name, although it was the British foreign minister.”

Mr Wallace said “President Putin will know that anything involving a nuclear weapon has an equal or greater response from the West.

“It [the UK’s nuclear deterrent] does keep us safe and that’s why I would say to parents up and down this country we will not do anything to escalate in that area.

“We will not do anything to feed any miscalculation. We take it very, very seriously.”

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