Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to kill him in a missile strike just weeks before invading Ukraine.
He has revealed this allegation as part of a new BBC documentary examining Moscow’s fractious relationship with Western leaders in the decades-long run up to the invasion last year.
Johnson, speaking to the BBC said Putin threatened him with a missile strike during an extraordinary call last February after a visit to Kyiv.
Johnson, who was still the U.K.’s prime minister at the time and later became one of Kyiv’s key Western supporters, said his Russian counterpart told him “I don’t want to hurt you” but a missile “would only take a minute.”
However, it’s impossible to determine how serious Putin’s threat was though Johnson said his counterpart’s relaxed tone and air of detachment indicated he was playing along with his attempts to negotiate.
The threat, made at a time the Kremlin was preparing its troops to invade but denied having any intentions of doing so, was part of a discussion over the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, something Johnson said would not happen for the “foreseeable future.”
Johnson said he warned Putin of NATO’s likely support of Kyiv, tougher Western sanctions and the alliance’s probable build up of forces in the region should Russia attack its neighbor, explaining an invasion would mean “more NATO, not less NATO.”