Boris Johnson has said Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile attack in an “extraordinary” phone call following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The then prime minister said Mr Putin told him it would “only take a minute”.
Mr Johnson said the comments came as he warned that war would be an “absolute disaster” during a “very long” call in February 2022.
Details of the exchange emerged in JEE News documentary, which examines Mr Putin’s interactions with world leaders.
Mr Johnson warned Mr Putin that an attack on Ukraine would lead to Western sanctions and more NATO troops on Russia’s borders.
He also tried to stop 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 will only take a minute’ or something like that. Thing. Julie.
“But I think he was taking a very relaxed tone, the air of indifference he seemed to have, he was just toying with my attempts to communicate with him.”
Mr Johnson said President Putin was “very familiar” during the “very unusual call”.
It is impossible to know whether Mr. Putin’s threat was genuine.
However, given previous Russian attacks on the UK – most recently in Salisbury in 2018 – any threat from the Russian leader, however mild, may have no choice but to be taken seriously by Mr Johnson.
Nine days later, on February 11, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace arrived in Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.
JEE News documentary Putin v West shows that Mr Wallace left with assurances that Russia would not invade Ukraine, but said both sides knew it was a lie.
He described it as “bullying or a show of power, which is: I’ll lie to you, you know I’m lying and I know you know I’m lying. And I’ll still lie to you.
“I think it was about saying ‘I’m powerful,'” Mr. Wallace said.
He said the “pretty cool, but outright lie” confirmed his belief that Russia would attack.
As he left the meeting, he said Russia’s chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, told him “we will never be humiliated again”.
Less than a fortnight later, as tanks rolled across the border on February 24, Mr. Johnson received a midnight phone call from President Zielinski.
“Zielenski is very calm,” Mr. Johnson recalled. “But, he tells me, you know, they’re attacking everywhere.”
Mr. Johnson says he offered to help move the president to safety.
“He wouldn’t take me up on that offer. He bravely stayed where he was.”
