NewsRescue
The Russian government has accused former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of lying when he claimed President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call prior to Ukraine’s invasion.
This comes after Johnson told the BBC for a documentary that Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened him with a missile strike that would only take a minute.
‘He threatened me at one point, saying, “Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute,” Johnson said.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, responded today, telling reporters that Johnson made up the allegations.
‘What Mr. Johnson said is incorrect. It’s a lie, to be precise… There were no missile threats,’ Peskov declared.
Johnson claims Putin made the astonishing threat in February last year, after he visited Kyiv to assure Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky that Britain would back his country if Russia invaded.
On his return, Johnson said he had a “very long, most extraordinary call” with Putin. Despite massing tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s borders at the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly denied any intention of invading the country.
According to the former prime minister, he warned the Russian dictator that war would be a “utter catastrophe” and would result in unprecedented Western sanctions.
Mr. Johnson stated, “Boris, you say Ukraine is not going to join Nato any time soon… when is that?” “Well, it’s not going to join Nato for the foreseeable future,” I said. You are well aware of this”.
‘At one point, he threatened me and said, “Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but a missile would take only a minute”.
‘I think he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate because of the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the sort of air of detachment that he seemed to have.’
The revelation comes from a BBC documentary series called Putin vs. the West, which will air tonight.
