Johnson says Putin threatened to send a missile into the UK before the invasion of Ukraine

Chris Radburn/AFP

Johnson describes Putin threatening to send him a ‘missile’ before invading Ukraine (pictured with Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister, September 1, 2022)

International – This is a threat that makes more than one person tremble. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson He describes it in a BBC documentary Russian President Vladimir Putin The “somewhat threatened” Before the invasion of Ukraine by throwing: “A missile takes a minute”.

In this three-part documentary, the first episode of which aired on BBC Two on Monday evening, the former head of the British government talks about his “too long” And “extraordinary” Invite the Russian President after his visit to Kyiv in early February.

At the time, Vladimir Putin continued to say he had no intention to invade its Ukrainian neighborDespite the massive infiltration of Russian soldiers into the border areas.

Boris Johnson, he says, has warned the Russian president of severe Western sanctions if he goes down this path. He said, ‘Boris, you’re saying Ukraine isn’t going to join NATO anytime soon. (…) What does ‘never sooner’ mean?” »Boris Johnson says. “Well, she’s not going to join NATO in the near future, you know that very well.”Former British leader, early support of Ukrainians continues.

“Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile it will take a minute”

“At one point he threatened me, “Boris, I don’t want to hurt you. But with a missile, it takes a minute” or something like that.Boris Johnson continues.

“From the very relaxed tone he took, the detachment he had, I think he was toying with my attempts to get him to negotiate.”Adds the former British leader, who left Downing Street in early September after a series of scandals.

“Mr Johnson is lying. This is a deliberate lie, but to what end? It was an unintentional lie because he didn’t understand what President Putin was saying.This Monday, January 30, Moscow responded through the voice of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who assured that he was not. “No Missile Threat”.

In the documentary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describes how he was outraged by Western attitudes at the time: “If you know that Russia is going to invade Ukraine tomorrow, why don’t you give me something to stop it? If you can’t, stop it yourself. »

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