Who has come to Alex Salmond’s aid in the row over his new Russia Today show? Vladimir Putin, no less. Putin’s spokesman was asked about Salmond’s RT programme yesterday and denied it would promote Russian government propaganda:

“We have no connection to it… There are many foreign anchors with different points of view.”

Asked whether the Russian government backed Salmond on Scottish independence, Putin’s spokesman replied:

“This is an internal issue of Great Britain and we have no idea.”

With friends like these…