Boris Johnson has said that Putin threatened him with a missile strike in a phone call in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
The Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (U.K.) – Boris Johnson has said that the President of Russia – Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in an extraordinary phone call in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The remarks are a part of a BBC documentary, “Putin Vs The West” which talks about Putin’s interactions with the world leaders over the years. Johnson said the comment was made after he warned the war would be an utter catastrophe.
Johnson said that Putin told him, “Boris, I don’t want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute’ or something like that. Jolly.”.
Johnson told BBC, “But I think from the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the sort of air of detachment that he seemed to have, he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate.”
The call was arranged after Johnson met the President of Ukraine – Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine. Nine days after Johnson’s conversation with Putin, on February 11, 2022, the Defence Secretary of U.K. – Ben Wallace went to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart – Sergei Shoigu. After the meeting, Wallace left with assurances that Russia would not invade Ukraine, but he said both sides knew it was a lie.
Wallace said that as he left the meeting, Russia’s Chief of General Staff – General Valery Gerasimov told him, “Never again will we be humiliated.”
During the call, Putin also asked Johnson about the prospects of Ukraine joining North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), to which he had responded it would not be “for the foreseeable future”. Johnson warned Putin that invading Ukraine would lead to Western sanctions and more NATO troops on Russia’s borders.
However, Russia has denied the reports and said it is a “lie”. No reference to the exchange appeared in accounts released to the media of the call by Downing Street. It is to be noted that all detailed minutes are taken by a Number 10 official of all the officially arranged phone calls and are retained for the archive.
Speaking to BBC, the Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “It is either a deliberate lie – so you have to ask Mr. Johnson why he chose to put it that way – or it was an unconscious lie and he did not in fact understand what Putin was talking to him about.”
He said that Putin mentioned during the call, “if Ukraine joined NATO the potential deployment of NATO or US missiles near Russia’s border would mean that any missile could reach Moscow within minutes.”
Since the invasion, Putin has warned countries that may try to interfere, that Russia’s response would be immediate, even hinting at the use of nuclear weapons.
The documentary also talks about an interaction of CIA Director – William Burns with Putin on November 2, 2021. William said he was direct in laying out the message from the President of the United States (U.S.) – Joe Biden. He told Putin that the U.S. knew what Putin was up to and he would pay a heavy price if he launched such an invasion. He said that Putin did not deny that planning was underway and listed grievances about Ukraine and the West.
