NICOLA Sturgeon has spoken out after the Kremlin claimed UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was the reason Russia had put its nuclear forces on high alert.
The First Minister's intervention came after Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Moscow regime, told a press briefing that they believed statements about "possible altercations or even collisions and clashes between Nato and Russia [were] absolutely unacceptable".
He claimed these statements had been behind the orders sent to the nation's nuclear deterrent forces.
Peskov added: “I would not call the authors of these statements by name, although it was the British foreign minister.”
Truss had warned: "If we don’t stop Putin in Ukraine we are going to see others under threat – the Baltics, Poland, Moldova – and it could end up in a conflict with Nato."
Vladimir Putin ordered his nuclear deterrent forces onto a “special regime of combat duty” on Sunday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the move had been a "distraction" to hide the fact that his forces were struggling in Ukraine.
Commenting on the international dispute, the First Minister said pointing to Truss was a "transparent Russian attempt to divert".
Sturgeon wrote: "Whatever political disagreements any of us have with Liz Truss - and I have many deep differences with her - we should not fall for this transparent Russian attempt to divert.
"The only person responsible for Putin’s despicable nuclear threat is Putin."
Whatever political disagreements any of us have with Liz Truss - and I have many deep differences with her - we should not fall for this transparent Russian attempt to divert. The only person responsible for Putin’s despicable nuclear threat is Putin. https://t.co/x1iz7zLnsM
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) February 28, 2022
A Foreign Office source told the BBC: "I don't think anything Liz has said warrants that sort of rhetoric or escalation." They added that Truss had always spoken about Nato as a "defensive alliance".
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