Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to attack him with a missile during a phone call they had before the russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to the former British Conservative leader, Putin told him he did not want to hurt him but that the missile attack would “only take a minute.” The threat, according to Johnson in a program to be broadcast tonight by the BBC, was made after the former prime minister warned Putin that the war would be a “total catastrophe”.
Johnson’s account is part of a British public broadcaster documentary assessing Putin’s contacts with world leaders before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The former UK prime minister also warned Putin, in this long telephone conversation, that the invasion of Ukraine would provoke western sanctions and the deployment of forces of the Atlantic Alliance on the borders with Russia.
Johnson also tried to prevent Russian military action by telling Putin that Ukraine would not join NATO. “He threatened me at one point and told me: ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute’ or something like that,” Johnson said.
“But I think because of the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the kind of nonchalant air that he seemed to have, he was just playing with my attempts to get him to negotiate,” added Johnson, calling the call “very familiar” and “extraordinary.” .
The BBC documentary, which bears the title of “Putin vs. the West”also says that on February 11, 2022, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace traveled to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, leaving Russia with assurances that the invasion of Ukraine would not take place.
Source: Lasexta
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