Johnson Claims Putin Said He Could Send Missile to Hit UK ‘In A Minute’

By Staff, Agencies

The United Kingdom’s ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin said he could have sent a missile to hit Britain “within a minute,” in a call just before the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

Johnson’s comments came in a three-part documentary for BBC Two looking at the conflict in Ukraine and the lead up to Russia’s operation in February last year.

It had been in a conversation about hypothetical support for NATO on Russia’s borders if Putin decided to invade, as Johnson tried to talk Putin down.

He told the makers of Putin vs the West that he didn’t regard Putin’s comments as a threat. He went on to become one of Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky’s biggest supporters and has visited Kiev since resigning as prime minister.

The show will air on BBC Two on Monday at 9pm.

“He sort 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 like that,” Johnson said.

“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.”

Johnson had warned that there would be tougher western sanctions if Russia invaded, and that support for NATO would increase – even if Ukraine was not close to becoming a member.

“He said, ‘Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join NATO anytime soon … What is anytime soon?’, and I said, ‘Well it’s not going to join NATO for the foreseeable future. You know that perfectly well,’” Johnson said of the call with Putin.