Russia on Friday condemned British plans to open military bases in south-east Asia and the Caribbean and said it stood ready to take retaliatory measures if its own interests or those of its allies were threatened.

British defense minister Gavin Williamson told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper last month that London was working on plans to build two new foreign bases "within the next couple of years" after it left the European Union.

Williamson did not specify where the bases might be built, but the newspaper reported that options included Singapore or Brunei near the South China Sea and Montserrat or Guyana in the Caribbean.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry, on Friday described Williamson's comments as baffling and warned such plans could destabilize world affairs.