GETTY Vladimir Putin 'will authorise retaliation if Russian soldiers are injured'

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Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinskiy, who formerly served on the Russian General Staff, said if 'Russian blood is spilled', then Moscow would undoubtedly retaliate.



Mr Buzhinskiy stressed that if Russia concluded the UK was behind any attack on Syria, President Vladimir Putin could sanction counter-strike on UK forces in the Mediterranean.



He said: “As our chief of the general staff said a couple of weeks ago, Russia would shoot down the missiles and its carriers and I don’t think he was joking, that’s a very serious situation and that’s true.”



“If our military determined that the missiles were launched from the UK, carriers of course, UK carriers and missiles would be hit back.”

GETTY Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinskiy sounded his warning amidst rising tensions

If Russian blood is shed then Russia will retaliate. Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinskiy

This could mean strikes on targets in Cyprus, he suggested.



Mr Buzhinskiy warned that it would be “very difficult to find a significant military target in Syria where there are no Russians”



He told BBC Radio 4’s Today show: “We have several thousands advisers in all military installation in all military units.



“If Russian blood is shed then Russia will retaliate.”

GETTY Theresa May is said to be ready to back strikes against Syria

He further insisted that Russian intelligence showed there were ‘no chemical attacks’ and that the episode was ‘staged’.



His words echoed a similar statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday.



Mr Lavrov claimed Moscow has 'irrefutable' evidence that the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, eastern Ghouta, which left at least 80 people dead, was fake.



He added: 'We have irrefutable evidence that this was another staged event, and that the secret services of a certain state that is now at the forefront of a Russophobic campaign was involved in this staged event.”

