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Kremlin on Monday (January 30) dismissed former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to harm him with a missile during a phone call before Russia launched the “special military operation” into Ukraine. Kremlin denied the accusations, terming Johnson a liar.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “What Mr Johnson said is not true. More precisely it’s a lie… There were no missile threats.”
While speaking to BBC for a documentary, Johnson alleged that the Russian president had asked him about the prospects of Ukraine joining NATO. Boris claimed he said that it would not be “for the foreseeable future”.
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.”
Johnson said that the call was “very long” and “most extraordinary”, which took place last year in February. He added, “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.”
During his time in office, Boris made sure that the UK become a strong ally of Ukraine. He also visited the war-torn nation several times while in office and held telephonic conversations with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy frequently. He also helped Kiyv with military assistance.
Kremlin slams West for supply of weapons to Ukraine
Kremlin also commented on the supply of advanced weapons to Ukraine, stating that further supplies of powerful weaponry to Kyiv would only lead to further escalation of the war.
In a call with reporters, Peskov said, “Ukraine demands more and more weapons. The West is encouraging these demands, and professes its readiness to provide such weapons.”
The reporters asked him to comment on a public request by Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk for Germany to send Kyiv a submarine.
After hesitating for a long period of time, the West agreed to send powerful tanks for its fight against the Russian invasion last week. Earlier, the West didn’t want to engage in direct conflict with Russia, but later agreed and sent tanks.
Ukraine is still demanding fighter jets and long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russian territories, but there’s no consensus so far.
Peskov on Monday also said members of the Western NATO alliance were becoming more involved in the conflict. He noted that their provision of arms to Ukraine would not change the course of events.
“It’s a dead-end situation: it leads to significant escalation, it leads to NATO countries more and more becoming directly involved in the conflict – but it doesn’t have the potential to change the course of events and will not do so,” he said.
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