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Kremlin says Boris Johnson's claim that Putin threatened him is lie-UPDATED

Boris Johnson, former prime minister of UK

30 January 2023 14:35 (UTC +04:00)

Boris Johnson has said Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in an "extraordinary" phone call in the run-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, APA reports citing BBC.

In his response, Mr Putin's spokesman said the former prime minister's claim was "either a deliberate falsehood, in which case you need to ask Mr Johnson why he lied, or it was not a deliberate lie. That is, he didn't understand what President Putin was saying to him".

"There were no threats to use missiles," said Dmitry Peskov.

Nine days after Mr Johnson's conversation with President Putin, on 11 February, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace flew to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.

*** 13:25

Boris Johnson has said Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in an "extraordinary" phone call in the run-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, APA reports citing BBC.

The then-prime minister said Mr. Putin told him it "would only take a minute."

Mr. Johnson said the comment was made after he warned the war would be an "utter catastrophe" during a "very long" call in February 2022.

Details of the exchange are revealed in a BBC documentary examining Mr. Putin's interactions with world leaders.

Mr. Johnson warned Mr. Putin that invading Ukraine would lead to Western sanctions and more Nato troops on Russia's borders.

He also tried to deter Russian military action by telling Mr. Putin that Ukraine would not join Nato "for the foreseeable future".

But Mr. Johnson said: "He threatened me at one point, and he said, 'Boris, I don't want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute' or something like that. Jolly.

"But I think from the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the sort of air of detachment that he seemed to have, he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate."

President Putin had been "very familiar" during the "most extraordinary call," Mr. Johnson said.

No reference to the exchange appeared in accounts of the call given by both Downing Street and the Kremlin.