Philip Hammond has warned that western powers are at a disadvantage in dealing with Russia because of their “cumbersome” democratic processes.

The foreign secretary told MPs on Tuesday that the UK and other Nato members were less able to react quickly to changing world events because of having to secure the assent of parliament, the media and the public.

Mr Hammond told the cross-party foreign affairs select committee: “Russia has been extraordinarily agile in exploring new technologies like cyber.”

“We have to think about how we respond to an adversary in which all decision making power is concentrated in the hands of one man — I have heard it said that it is more concentrated even than under Leonid Brezhnev, when at least there was a politburo.”

He added: “We as a nation and as part of an alliance in Nato must think about how we deal with the challenge of our relatively cumbersome decision-making processes.

Image: UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, June 30, 2015 (photo: UK Foreign Ministry)