Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in an "extraordinary" phone call just ahead of launching the 'special military operation' in Ukraine on 24 February, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed, according to a new BBC documentary to be broadcast on Monday.
"I don't want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute," Johnson quoted Putin as saying, adding the conversation took place in February after he had visited Kyiv to show Western support for Ukraine amid looming fears of a Russian assault. The prime minister and other Western leaders had been hurrying to the Ukrainian capital in an attempt to show support for the country and deter a Russian attack.
Johnson, who was compelled to leave Downing Street last September, has emerged as one of the most impassioned Western supporters of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In the new BBC Two series, that charts the growing divide between Putin and the West in the years before the invasion, Johnson recalled warning the Russian leader that a war would be an "utter catastrophe" and would lead to tougher Western sanctions and "more NATO, not less NATO" on Russia's borders.
"He said: 'Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join any time soon ... What is any time soon?'"
Johnson said he tried to deter Russian military action by telling Putin that Ukraine would not join the military alliance "for the foreseeable future".
Putin had been "very familiar" during the "very long" call, the prime minister said.
It's almost impossible to know if the Russian leader's threat was genuine. But given earlier Russian attacks on the UK, including the most recent one in 2018 in Salisbury, any threat from Putin, irrespective of the tone, is probably one Johnson would have had no choice but to take seriously.
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