Russia engaged in “hostile activities” during the EU referendum which may have included cyber attacks and the spreading of fake news, Donald Tusk has suggested.

The President of the European Council appeared to point the finger at unwanted interventions from Moscow in democratic votes as he insisted the EU needed to “protect” itself from cyber attacks, fake news and hybrid warfare.

Mr Tusk appeared to claim that Theresa May had outed Russia for interfering in the UK when she delivered a speech earlier this month.

However, while the Prime Minister did attack Russia for such behaviour she did not explicitly say that the country had intervened in the EU referendum.

Mrs May accused Russia in her speech of "weaponising information" and she repeated her tough stance as she arrived in Brussels on Friday for an Eastern Partnership summit with the EU’s neighbours to the east.

She accused Moscow of trying to “tear our collective strength apart”.