Russia has ridiculed a UK minister for suggesting it could cause “thousands and thousands and thousands” of deaths by crippling British infrastructure.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told the Daily Telegraph Moscow was spying on energy supplies which, if cut, could cause “total chaos” in the country.

But Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Mr Williamson had “lost his grasp on reason”.

The comments were worthy of a Monty Python sketch, Mr Konashenkov added.

He accused Mr Williamson of trying to scare the British public in an effort to get more money for the armed forces.
The UK has four undersea energy connections for electricity linked to mainland Europe and a further four for gas.

Mr Williamson, who became defence secretary last November, said Russia had been researching these types of connections and would be willing to take action “any other nation would see as completely unacceptable”.

He told the paper: "The plan for the Russians won’t be for landing craft to appear in the South Bay in Scarborough, and off Brighton Beach.

“They are going to be thinking: ‘How can we just cause so much pain to Britain?’

“Damage its economy, rip its infrastructure apart, actually cause thousands and thousands and thousands of deaths, but actually have an element of creating total chaos within the country.”

It is a “real threat”, he added.