VLADIMIR Putin will face "very serious consequences" if Russia invades Ukraine, Dominic Raab said this morning – as he refused to rule out sending British troops.

The deputy prime minister – whose father fled Czechoslovakia in 1938 – said there is a "very significant risk of an invasion".

Speaking hours after it was claimed the Russian president plans to install a 'puppet government' in Kiev, Mr Raab said there will be "severe consequences" for the Kremlin.

"The Foreign Secretary and Foreign Office have come out making clear what the designs of the Russian government are," he told Sky's Trevor Phillips.

"We don't go into things like sources, but it's very clear there's a concerted military build-up and a threat to the democracy and integrity of Ukraine.

"Putin and Moscow have a habit of trying to take advantage of opportunities when the world's attention is elsewhere."

Britain last night took the unusual step of naming former MP Yevhen Murayev as a potential Kremlin candidate to take over in Kiev.

The Foreign Office also identified four other Ukrainian allies who maintain links with President Putin’s intelligence chiefs.

FEARS OF WAR

The West has sounded fresh warnings that Russia will pay a heavy price if the 100,000 troops massed on the border stage any incursion.

"Ukraine is a free country and should decide its own fate. We will support them in defending themselves – we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them," Mr Raab said.

"We want to make it clear there will be very serious consequences if Russia makes a move to invade, but also to install a puppet regime."

Mr Phillips asked his guest four times exactly what the British Government would do.

Mr Raab said that while he "wouldn't telegraph" the measures like to be taken, but said there will be "very serious, severe economic consequences" taken to ensure Putin "walks away from the brink".

And he refused to deny claims Russia could be locked out of the international banking system.

'WE WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH'

"I certainly think financial sanctions are something we would readily look at," he said.

Mr Raab also refused to rule out the suggestion British troops could be sent to fight.

"It is extremely unlikely that we'd do that, but we're willing and engaging in training programme to support Ukraine defending themselves," he said.

And he told the BBC's Sophie Raworth it was "very unlikely" – but didn't explicitly say soldiers wouldn't be deployed in the event of an invasion.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko told Mr Phillips troops are preparing to die to defend the country.

Asked if the west "have the stomach for the fight", he replied: "I believe we're getting there.

"If you look at the seven-plus years we've been asking people to help us with military equipment, we're now seeing doors open.

WAR GAMES

"The UK and US are coming openly to send weapons, which is not important only as a military step, but as a political step.

"It's showing Russia, 'You've killed so many in Ukraine. It's not a minor incursion any more – this is war'."

And he said he believes Putin may want to regain the Soviet Unon.

"We have nowhere to go," he said.

"We will fight to the death, unfortunately. So many people will probably die, and we will try to take to that world as many Russians as they come."

Next week, the Russian navy is set to encircle Europe with war games alongside China and Iran.

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PM Boris Johnson will ramp up pressure on Russia as he calls for Europe and the US to step up a gear in their response.

He will despatch Cabinet ministers across the ­continent following the UK’s delivery of lethal aid to Ukraine, including 2,000 missiles and a specialist team of military trainers.

A Downing Street source said: “The PM’s view is that the situation in Ukraine is the biggest test to the unity and resolve of the West and the Nato alliance in decades.”

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