Former British prime minister Boris Johnson claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally threatened him with a missile attack in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
LONDON — Former British prime minister Boris Johnson says Russian President Vladimir Putin personally threatened him with a missile attack in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The accusation came in excerpts of a BBC documentary on Putin and the West set to air later Monday, and Johnson conceded that the Russian leader might have been joking.Johnson said Putin made the remarks during a “very long” call in early February last year, as Russian troops were massing along the Ukraine border. Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, had recently visited Kyiv to show Western support for Ukraine.
“He sort of threatened me at one point and said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute,’ or something like that. You know … jolly,” Johnson said.of nuclear weapons, including longer-range missiles, but Johnson suggested that he didn’t regard Putin’s comments as a serious threat.
Johnson said he had warned Putin that tougher sanctions would follow if there was an invasion and that it would bolster Western support for Ukraine, resulting in “more NATO, not less NATO” on Russia’s borders. “He said, ‘Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join NATO any time soon. … What is any time soon?’ and I said, ‘Well it’s not going to join NATO for the foreseeable future. You know that perfectly well,’” Johnson recalled of the exchange. Three weeks after their call, on Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine..
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