London: Just before directing Russian forces into Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin allegedly threatened to personally target Boris Johnson with a missile attack, according to the former UK prime minister.
A brand-new BBC documentary that will be aired on Monday claims that the apparent threat appeared in a phone call just before the invasion on February 24. To support Ukraine and try to stop a Russian attack, Johnson and other Western leaders had been rushing to Kyiv.
Johnson quoted Putin as saying, "He kind of 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 along those lines.
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Johnson has emerged as one of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukrainestaunchest ,'s Western supporters. However, he claims that he took great care to inform Putin before the invasion that there was no immediate prospect of Ukraine joining NATO and that any invasion would result in "more NATO, not less NATO" on Russia's borders.
"Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join NATO any time soon," he remarked. What is the time frame? And I responded, "Well, it won't be joining NATO for a while." You are fully aware of that.
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Johnson continued, in reference to the missile threat: "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." In the years leading up to the invasion of Ukraine, the BBC documentary charts the widening gap between the West and the Russian president.
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Zelensky is also seen thinking back on his failed attempts to join NATO before Russia attacked. Why don't you give me something today that I can use to stop Russia from occupying Ukraine if you know it will happen tomorrow? he asks. "Or, if you can't give it to me, stop it yourself," the person said.