Defence Secretary Grant Shapps accused the Russian chief of behaving like “a modern-day Stalin”. He tweeted: “Putin has stolen another election, but he will not steal Ukraine. The UK will work with our allies to stop this thief by increasing our collective support for Ukraine. As history shows, we have to stop dictators & autocrats, or they go on to steal even more.” Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron mentioned at this time: “Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy.”