Boris Johnson says Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile attack in
an "extraordinary" phone call
in the run-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago on February 24.
The then prime minister recounted that Putin
told him that "it would only take a minute."
Johnson said the comment was made after warning that
the war would be an "absolute catastrophe".
Boris and Putin, in an "extraordinary" talk.
Photos: SERGEI GUNEYEV AND ISABEL INFANTES / AFP)
The claim is made in a BBC documentary about
Putin's interactions with world leaders over the years
.
The Kremlin spokesman said it was a "lie".
Johnson warned Putin that invading Ukraine would
lead to Western sanctions and more NATO troops
on Russia's borders.
He also tried to discourage Russian military action by telling Putin that
Ukraine would not join NATO
"in the foreseeable future."
But Johnson said: "He 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.
"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 along with my attempts to negotiate."
President Putin had been "very familiar" during the "most extraordinary call," Johnson said.
No reference to the exchange appeared in accounts released to the media of the call made by either Downing Street or the Kremlin.
Boris is lying
The Kremlin accused the former British prime minister of lying.
Boris Johnson during a visit to kyiv.
Photo: SERGEI CHUZAVKOV / AFP
"What Mr. Johnson said is a lie. Either it is a deliberate lie, but then for what purpose? Or it is an involuntary lie, in the sense that
he did not understand what President Putin was telling him
," the president told the press. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.
"There was no missile threat. Speaking of Russia's security challenges, President Putin had pointed out that if Ukraine joined NATO and there was a possibility that Alliance missiles or US missiles would be deployed on our borders, it would mean that
a missile could reach Moscow in a matter of minutes
," Peskov explained.
"If this passage was misinterpreted, it is
a very unfortunate situation
," he continued.
The former British Prime Minister, who left Downing Street in September last year after a series of scandals.
It is impossible to know
if Putin's threat was genuine.
However, given previous Russian attacks on the UK, most recently
in Salisbury in 2018
, any threat from the Russian leader, however slight, is likely one that Johnson would have had no choice but to
take seriously.
Clarín editorial office with information from BCC News and AFP
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