This is the moment a Florida driver blames Putin for him speeding.

The driver, name not disclosed, was stopped by the police in the city of Palm Coast in Flagler County in the US state of Florida for jumping a stop sign and driving at 50mph in a 30mph zone.

In the footage, the apologetic driver offers a list of different reasons for causing the two offences in front of the watchful arresting cop.

Among them, the man says that his car is new and he was struggling to get it out of ‘sport mode’, and also that he saw another vehicle and wanted to get out before them.

The cop repeatedly reminds the driver that he was observing him the whole time, prompting him to change tack again.

After a while, the motorist decided to tell the officer “the truth”.

The ‘truth’, according to the driver, was that he was “freaked out” by Putin’s threat of nuclear war that he just heard about, and needed to get home quickly to find out what the Russian president is up to.

He told the stunned officer: “I just found out that Putin just said he’s gonna launch nuclear thermal war against the world, and I was trying to get back to my house to find out what’s going on.”

He added that he is “freaking out” over the news.

The filmed traffic stop took place on 24th February, the same day Russia invaded the Ukraine and Putin warned other nations that they will face “consequences you have never seen” if they interfere.

The driver reportedly received a ticket for running the stop sign and another for speeding.