The former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed the details of the telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the invasion of Ukraine. According to the British politician, he told the Russian president that Ukraine would not join NATO in the foreseeable future, and the Russian leader threatened him with a missile blow.
The conversation took place shortly after Johnson’s visit to Kyiv on February 1. The former prime minister revealed the details of the conversation in the documentary Putin Vs The West, which will be aired on Monday evening, January 30, at the BBC Two. His words are given by foreign media.
Johnson told Putin that the war in Ukraine will entail catastrophic consequences, Western countries will introduce strict sanctions against Moscow and strengthen the support of Ukraine, this will mean “more NATO, and not less than NATO” at Russian borders.
When Johnson and Putin touched on the theme of the possible accession of Kyiv to the North Atlantic Alliance, the Russian leader, according to Johnson, said: “Boris, you say that Ukraine will not enter NATO soon. What time is it about?” In response, Johnson said that this would not happen “in the foreseeable future”, and the Russian side knows about this.
“At some point, he seemed to threatened me and said:” Boris, I do not want to hurt you, but it will take only a minute with the rocket, “or something like that,” Johnson quoted Putin’s words .
According to the former British prime minister, at the same time, “Judging by his [Putin] very calm tone, by the detachment that he had, he simply played along with my attempts to persuade him to negotiate.”
It is not known how serious the threats were from Putin, but, given the previous attacks of Russia on the UK, including the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury, any threat from the Russian leader was probably perceived by Johnson seriously, BBC notes.
The Russian side reported on the telephone conversation of Putin and Johnson on February 2, 2022 – a day after the British Prime Minister’s trip to the Ukrainian capital. The Kremlin’s press service that the parties conducted a “fairly detailed exchange of views in the context of the intra-Ukrainian crisis” and discussed the situation with ensuring security guarantees for Russia. According to the results of negotiations, Dauning Street reported that the leaders agreed that the deterioration of the situation in Ukraine did not meet any interests.