A senior county councillor says that she is aware of incidents in which Russians living in the county were being bullied over the invasion of Ukraine.

Cllr Susan Carey, the cabinet member for the environment, told colleagues at a meeting about incidents that had been brought to her attention.

She said: “It should not need to be said but I am afraid it does… We do need to distinguish the actions of the Russian state from Russian individuals.

"There are people who live in Kent who have experienced bullying from people who disagree - as we all do - with the invasion of Ukraine.

"We do need to remind ourselves that this is not about people living here in Kent; and there should be no attempt to take it out on individuals. It must be really difficult for them at this moment. I wanted to say that because I am aware of things happening in my own area.”

She did not spell out the level of bullying and details of specific incidents but the Elham Valley councillor’s comments were endorsed by KCC leader Roger Gough.

“Our horror is with the criminal nature of the political regime of Russia itself,” he said.

Earlier this week, the Thanet North MP Sir Roger Gale said Russians in the UK should have their visas revoked: "My view is that we should send Russia a very clear message and rescind all the visas for Russian citizens currently extant in the UK and send everybody home."

When pressed on whether this would apply to all Russians in the UK, he said: "We can't pick and choose, because what we've got to do I'm afraid is send a very harsh message through the Russian people to Putin."

Meanwhile, county council officials are monitoring the dark web to assess if the authority is at risk of cyber attacks from Russia it has emerged.

Deputy leader and cabinet finance member Peter Oakford, said both he and the leader were receiving regular briefings on the issue.

“We have had a high level of concern about cyber security and increased level of cyber attacks on our network. Monitoring has been increased, including on the dark web.”

KCC announced yesterday a range of steps it has taken in the light of the invasion of Ukraine.

Cllr Gough said KCC's energy-buying organisation Laser, which acts on behalf of many public sector organisations, has also suspended Russian gas giant Gazprom from its existing gas supply framework and will not be including them in future contracting opportunities.