Boris Johnson recounts in a BBC documentary that Russian President Vladimir Putin “
sort of threatened
” him before the invasion of Ukraine by throwing: “
A missile would take a minute
”.
In this three-part documentary, the first episode of which is broadcast Monday evening January 30 on BBC Two, the former head of the British government recounts his "
very long
" and "
extraordinary
" call with the Russian president after his visit to Kiev at the beginning of last February.
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At that time, Vladimir Putin continued to maintain that he had no intention of invading his Ukrainian neighbor, despite the massive influx of Russian soldiers into the border regions.
Boris Johnson tells him that he had warned the Russian president of the harsh sanctions that Westerners would take if he embarked on this path.
“
He said, 'Boris, you say Ukraine is not going to join NATO anytime soon.
(…) What do you mean by 'not anytime soon'?''
, says Boris Johnson.
"Boris, I don't want to hurt you"
"
Well, she's not going to join NATO in the near future, you know that perfectly
," continues the former British leader, early supporter of the Ukrainians.
At one point he kind of threatened me and said, 'Boris, I don't want to hurt you, but with a missile it would take a minute' or something
.”
According to the former British leader, who left Downing Street at the beginning of September after a succession of scandals, "
according to the very relaxed tone he took, the detachment he seemed to have, he played with (his) attempts to get him to negotiate
.
In the documentary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recounts how he became enraged at the attitude of Westerners at the time: "
If you know that tomorrow Russia is going to invade Ukraine, why is what you don't give me today enough to stop it?
If you can't, then stop it yourself.
»
