A FORMER White House aide has been accused of making "ridiculous" claims after he suggested he believed Vladimir Putin's Kremlin was working with the SNP in a conspiracy to destabilise the West.

David Frum, who served as a speechwriter to George W. Bush, made the comments in an interview with BBC Newsnight while discussing "disquieting" interest from the Russians in a major defence speech from Donald Trump, in which the frontrunner to claim the Republican nomination for US president called for an easing of tensions between the former Cold War adversaries.

The political commentator, who is now senior editor at respected American magazine The Atlantic, said: "We know the Kremlin has made big attempts to penetrate major democratic systems. The major loan to the National Front in France, and there are rumours of activities elsewhere including persistent rumours of involvement with the Scottish nationalists."

Mr Frum, who is credited with coining the term 'Axis of Evil' to describe America's enemies in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, was interrupted by host Evan Davis before he could elaborate further.

Mr Davis told him "let's not go into any of that" before Mr Frum, who has become embroiled in controversies over previous interventions related to terrorism and foreign policy as a journalist, raised concerns about an "open door" between Mr Trump and Russia. He continued: "This is beginning to look like something that a lot of French people, German people, British people would recognise as uncomfortable".

A spokesman for the SNP, reacting to the interview, said: "These comments are laughable, and anyone with the slightest actual knowledge of Scotland or the SNP - which clearly doesn't include Mr Frum - would know how ridiculous this claim is."

The row comes after the SNP moved to discourage its politicians appearing on Kremlin mouthpieces such as TV station RT and radio and online giant Sputnik News, which slavishly back Putin's regime, which they are funded by.

Former First Minister Alex Salmond and current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have both previously appeared on RT, while SNP MP Paul Monaghan boasted only a fortnight ago about appearing on Radio Sputnik to discuss the Panama Papers scandal, despite the party hierarchy routinely refusing media bids from the outlets.

The official SNP stance came amid growing concerns that Scottish nationalists could be exploited by a propaganda machine seeking to equate the independence movement in this country with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russian foreign-language media such as RT and Sputnik have a policy of airing views they believe undermine western institutions. This includes encouragement for independence movements across Europe of a kind that, in Russia, would be considered criminal.