Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have threatened Boris Johnson with a personal missile attack, says Boris Johnson to the BBC. According to the former British Prime Minister, the threat should have come in a telephone conversation after Johnson had said that a war could be a complete disaster. He says so in a new documentary that will be broadcast on the BBC on Monday at 10 p.m. Norwegian time. The documentary will also be shown on news in February. VISIT: Boris Johnson visited Kyiv in January and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Photo: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER / Reuters Johnson and other Western leaders went to Kyiv before the invasion of Ukraine to show support for the country and try to deter a Russian attack. – He threatened me at one point and said: “Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a rocket it would only take a minute”, says Johnson. According to Johnson, Putin had a relaxed tone when he made the threat, and interpreted it as Putin trying to play along with the attempts at negotiation. In a statement from the Kremlin on Monday, they claim that Boris Johnson is lying when he says that President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a personal missile attack, according to AFP. – What Mr. Johnson says is not true. To be more precise, it is a lie. There was no threat of rocket attacks, says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Warned Putin Johnson tells the BBC that he made an effort to reassure Putin that Ukraine was not going to join NATO in the near future. WARNING: Boris Johnson is said to have warned Vladimir Putin against severe Western sanctions if he ordered an innovation of Ukraine. Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev / AP – He said: “Boris, you are saying that Ukraine should not join NATO immediately. What does that mean?”, and I replied “Well, they are not going to join NATO in the foreseeable future. You know that very well,” says Johnson about the conversation with Putin. Johnson says he also told Putin that a military escalation would lead to the West increasing its support for Ukraine. He is also said to have warned the Russian president of stricter Western sanctions if Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine. The West’s relationship with Putin The BBC documentary deals with the years before the invasion of Ukraine and how Western countries related to Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj can also be seen in the documentary, and shows his efforts to get on the good side of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. FRUSTRATION: According to the BBC documentary, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyj, describes his frustration with Nato. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky / AP – I said to him: “Jens, I want to join NATO, can you imagine us in NATO?”. Because nothing would have defended the country apart from actual membership, Zelenskyj says. He describes his frustration with Nato in the run-up to the invasion. – If you know that Russia is going to occupy Ukraine tomorrow, why don’t you give me something so that I can prevent that from happening? Or if you can’t give me something, then stop it yourself, says Zelenskyj. Boris Johnson visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv earlier in January. Johnson visited both President Zelenskyj and the towns of Borodjanka and Butsha. During the visit, he promised that the UK would “stand by Ukraine’s side as long as it takes”. He was prime minister when Russia invaded Ukraine last February, and sought to position Britain as one of Ukraine’s most dedicated allies.
ttn-69
