Boris Johnson claims Vladimir Putin threatened him with missile strike | Ukraine

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call in the run up to the invasion of Ukraine.

Johnson, speaking to the BBC for a documentary, said that the Russian leader had asked him about the prospects of Ukraine joining Nato, to which he had responded it would not be "for the foreseeable future".

"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," Mr Johnson said, recalling the "very long" and "most extraordinary" call in February 2022 which followed a visit by the then prime minister to Kyiv.

"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."

The Kremlin said on Monday, however, that Mr Johnson was lying.

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