A Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to conflicts in other parts of eastern Europe and around the world, Liz Truss has claimed.
The foreign secretary delivered the chilling warning as she called on Vladimir Putin to pull back from the brink and withdraw his troops from the Ukrainian border.
Truss said “we are preparing for the worst” as military action by Russia “could be imminent”.
And she became the first cabinet minister to suggest that Putin “would not stop at Ukraine”, which would then embolden the likes of Iran and China to further their own military ambitions.
She told Sky News: “The big risk of course if there is an invasion into Ukraine, that would be hugely damaging for Russia and for Ukraine, and it would further undermine the stability of Europe.
“President Putin has actively questioned why other countries in eastern Europe are members of NATO as well and this, I fear, would not stop at Ukraine. This is an attack on the neighbouring states of Russia and other east European countries to try and undermine the legitimacy of them being part of NATO.”
The foreign secretary warned that war in Ukraine would be “a long-running conflict”.
She added: “We could see the undermining of security more broadly in Europe but also see other aggressors around the world see it as an opportunity to expand their ambitions too, so this is a very dangerous moment for the world.
“This is of course about Ukraine, which is an important sovereign nation. But it’s also about the wider stability of Europe and it’s about wider global stability and the message we give to aggressors, and we have to give the message to Vladimir Putin that there can be no reward for aggression.”
The foreign secretary also hit back at Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who last week delivered a stinging rebuke to her following talks in Moscow.
He said their summit was like a “mute” talking to “a deaf person”.
But Truss said: “Of course Sergei Lavrov didn’t like what I had to say, but I was there in Russia to deliver a message to make it clear to the Russian government there wouldn’t be rewards for aggression and they needed to move their troops away from the border.”