Boris Johnson revealed that Putin threatened to attack him with a missile during a phone call: “It would only take a minute”

Boris Johnson revealed that Putin threatened to attack him with a missile during a phone call: “it would only take a minute”. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile during a phone call before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

According to the former British Conservative leader, Putin told him he did not want to hurt him but that the missile attack would “only take a minute.”

The threat, according to Johnson in a program to be broadcast on the BBC on Monday night, was made after the former prime minister warned Putin that the war would be a “total catastrophe.”

Johnson’s account is part of a British public broadcaster documentary assessing Putin’s contacts with world leaders before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The former prime minister has visited Ukraine several times since the start of the Russian attacks. (Reuters)

The former head of the United Kingdom Government also warned Putin, in this long telephone conversation, that the invasion of Ukraine would lead to Western sanctions and the deployment of Atlantic Alliance forces on the borders with Russia.

Johnson also tried to prevent Russian military action by telling Putin that Ukraine would not join NATO.

“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,” Johnson said.

“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 with my attempts to get him to negotiate,” added Johnson, calling the call “very familiar” and “extraordinary.” .

“He said, ‘Boris, you say Ukraine won’t be joining NATO anytime soon… What’s soon?’ And I said, ‘Well, it won’t be joining NATO for the foreseeable future. You know that perfectly well,’” Johnson said of the call with Putin as reported by The Guardian.

Putin threatened to attack Britain with a missile during a call with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Sputnik/Ilya Pitalev)

The British media noted that Ben Wallace, the defense secretary, also spoke in the documentary about a visit to Moscow in February in a failed attempt to negotiate and end the war. He met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, as well as with the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov.

“I remember telling Minister Shoigu, ‘They will fight,’ and he said, ‘My mother is Ukrainian; They will not! He also said that he had no intention of invading,” Wallace said.

The BBC documentary, titled “Putin vs. the West,” also says that on February 11, 2022, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace traveled to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and met he left Russia with assurances that the invasion of the Ukraine would not take place.

(With information from EFE)

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