The Foreign Secretary insisted the Russian President “will not stop at Ukraine” as he looks to piece the Soviet Union back together. Ms Truss warned Mr Putin wants to “turn the clock back” and could annex the Baltic States – such as Estonia and Latvia – and the Western Balkans, which includes Serbia and Albania.
Ms Truss made the comments as she called on the West to “stand up” to the Russian President amid mounting war fears.
The Foreign Secretary told the Mail on Sunday: “We need to stop Putin because he will not stop at Ukraine.
“He’s been very clear – his ambition doesn’t just lead to him taking control of Ukraine, he wants to turn the clock back to the mid-1990s or even before then.
“The Baltic States are at risk… the Western Balkans as well.
“Putin has said all this publicly, that he wants to create the Greater Russia, that he wants to go back to the situation as it was before where Russia had control over huge swathes of Eastern Europe.
“So it’s so important that we and our allies stand up to Putin.
“It could be Ukraine next week but then which country will it be next?”
Ms Truss’s comments come as Boris Johnson has warned Russia’s plan to invade Ukraine would lead to the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War
READ MORE: ‘Keep them in good shape!’ Russian envoy stuns with nuclear excuse
Invasion fears have been fuelled by rising violence in rebel-held areas of Ukraine.
Two Ukrainian soldiers died yesterday as violence escalated in the east of the country between government forces and separatists.
There are fears that Russia, which has been carrying out nuclear drills across the weekend, could use the increase in tension in the separatist-held regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as a pretext for an attack.
Speaking this morning, Mr Johnson said “all the signs are” that Moscow has started with a plan to invade Ukraine.
He told BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “I’m afraid that is what the evidence points to, and there is no burnishing it, no hiding it.
“The fact is that all the signs are that the plan has already in some senses begun.
“That’s what our American friends think and you’re seeing these provocations now in Donbas – these explosions and so on – that we’ve been warning about for a long time.”