He told him it would only take a minute!

Boris Johnson says Putin threatened him with a missile strike

Putin threatened Johnson while he was in office.

Reuters

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call before the Ukraine war.

Johnson said, in an interview as part of a BBC documentary, that the Russian president asked him about the possibilities of Ukraine joining NATO, and Johnson replied that this would not be "in the foreseeable future."

Johnson described the call as "very long" and "the most extraordinary" in February 2022, followed by his visit to Kyiv while he was British Prime Minister.

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

Johnson went on, "But I think that, by the calm tone he used and the seeming indifference in him, he was accommodating my attempts to get him to negotiate."

Relations between Moscow and London sank to their lowest level in decades, even before Russia's war against Ukraine, after the poisoning of the former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in the British city of Salisbury in 2018. Johnson, who resigned last September in the wake of a series of scandals, sought to put London is at the forefront of Kyiv's allies in the West.

While in office, he visited Kyiv several times and kept in touch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Johnson expressed the UK's deep concern about the build-up of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border, and reiterated the importance of working through diplomatic channels to de-escalate tensions and identify lasting solutions.

This came during a phone call that Johnson made with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the official website of the British government.

Johnson had, during a previous call with Putin, when he was in office, demonstrated the UK's commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and warned that any destabilizing action would be a strategic mistake with disastrous consequences.

Johnson also recognized the importance of dialogue on international and regional security, and agreed with Putin that all parties should respect the terms of the Minsk Protocol.

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