Senior defence figures have held emergency talks with officials in Cyprus and Gibraltar about the Russian threat to British bases in the territories, The Telegraph has learnt.

The discussions took place after Vladimir Putin said that his military could target the UK in direct response to Ukraine’s use of British-made Storm Shadow missiles.

The Russian president said last month that his country had tested a new intermediate-range missile in a strike on Ukraine, and that it could legitimately use the weapon against countries that had allowed their missiles to strike Russia – which include Britain and the US.

“There have been some pretty significant meetings about reviewing the threat level at British sovereign bases in Cyprus and Gibraltar,” a source familiar with the discussions said.

“Our British interests overseas are easier to access than the UK itself. Cyprus is much more vulnerable to an attack – Russia could arm Hezbollah or another proxy to launch an attack via Iran. One of the things we are most worried about is the Houthis being equipped to launch an attack and they are close to Cyprus.