Nicola Sturgeon took a swipe at Tory minister Alister Jack as she warned Nato not to write Vladimir Putin a “blank cheque”.
The first minister was responding after the Scottish Secretary branded her “irresponsible” for suggesting a military no-fly zone to support Ukraine should not be ruled out.
Mr Jack said the SNP leader’s remarks were “naive” and that a potential airspace confrontation with Russia was “not on the table”.
But the first minister claimed the Russian president should not be allowed to “act with impunity”.
She told ITV: “It’s part of the lot of, particularly I think, a woman in politics that you get patronised by men.
“A lot of the time I’ve probably been patronised by better men than Alister Jack.”
‘No blank cheque for Putin’
She added: “Nato and the democratic world generally should not necessarily be writing Vladimir Putin blank cheques of assurance and giving him a sense that he can act with impunity.
“As I said last week there are very good reasons why the war should not be escalated into a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato.
“But in a situation like this with the death and destruction that is being visited upon Ukraine by a war criminal, I think there should be some uncertainty in his mind about what the consequences for his atrocious actions might be.
“These are issues that demand the greatest degree of sensitivity. They certainly should not be issues that lead to a tit-for-tat between Scottish politicians.”
Last week the first minister claimed Mr Putin was “not acting rationally” and that nuclear weapons only appeared to be preventing the UK from further helping Ukraine.
She said the West must “keep its mind open” to all the ways in which support can be offered during the Russian invasion.
Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Vladimir Putin’s army remains ongoing.
Thousands of refugees who have fled the devastating conflict are expected to start arriving in the UK next week.