UK says Putin's threats must be taken seriously

Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech on Wednesday was a worrying escalation and the threats he made in it must be taken seriously, British foreign office minister Gillian Keegan told Sky News.

"Clearly it's something that we should take very seriously because, you know, we're not in control - I'm not sure he's in control either, really. This is obviously an escalation," she said.

Earlier, Putin said that Russia had "lots of weapons to reply" to what he called Western threats and said that he was not bluffing.