DEFENCE Secretary Michael Fallon sparked fury in Moscow yesterday after he claimed there was a “real and present danger” that Russia could destabilise Baltic states.

Speaking to journalists travelling with him to Sierra Leone, Mr Fallon compared the threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin to that of Isis and warned that Nato had to be ready to respond to any further aggression “whatever form it takes.”

Russian Deputy Foreign  Minister Aleksandr Lukashevich said his words were “beyond diplomatic ethics” and warned that the Kremlin would “find a way to react.”

The diplomatic spat erupted as the Ministry of Defence revealed that RAF fighters had been scrambled to intercept long-range Russian bombers off the south coast of England on Wednesday.

Typhoon jets from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, operating under Nato command, intercepted the two long-range Russian Bears and escorted them until they had left the “UK area of interest,” the MoD said.