Boris Johnson has voiced fears that President Putin may use chemical weapons in Ukraine, writes The Guardian.

Echoing language used by the White House, Johnson told Sky News that Russian claims about its enemies getting ready to use chemical weapons were “straight out of their playbook”, and similar to what happened before the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

In an interview with Beth Rigby, Johnson said: “I’ll make you one other prediction, by the way, which is that the stuff that you’re hearing about chemical weapons - this is straight out of their playbook. They start saying that there are chemical weapons that have been stored by their opponents or by the Americans. And so when they themselves deploy chemical weapons, as I fear they may, they have a sort of maskirovka, a fake story, ready to go. And you’ve seen it in Syria. You saw it even in the UK”.

Asked if he expected a chemical weapons attack by Russia, Johnson said: “I just note that that is what they’re already doing. It is a cynical, barbaric government, I’m afraid”.