MOSCOW has likened Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson’s claims that Russia is plotting an attack on the UK to “a Monty Python sketch”.

As Williamson stepped up his warnings, defence ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said he had “lost his grasp on reason”.

Williamson said Russia could cause “thousands and thousands and thousands” of deaths in an attack on Britain’s infrastructure. He announced that a new £10 million radar station being built on the island of Unst in Shetland will monitor the “severe and real” threat from Moscow.

Williamson claimed Russia had been looking at the UK’s critical infrastructure such as power stations. However, Konashenkov said: “Gavin Williamson, in his fiery crusade for military budget money, appears to have lost his grasp on reason. His fears about Russia getting pictures of power plants and studying the routes of British pipelines are worthy of a comic plot or a Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch.”