‘More precisely,a lie’:Kremlin denies Putin told Johnson he could kill him in a minute

London:Boris Johnson said Vladimir Putin personally threatened him with a missile strike that would take out the former British prime minister “in a minute”.

Johnson made the extraordinary revelation in a BBC documentary in which he recounted a telephone conversation he had with Putin to warn him against invading Ukraine.

Boris Johnson says Vladimir Putin threatened to take him out with a missile before the invasion of Ukraine.

Boris Johnson says Vladimir Putin threatened to take him out with a missile before the invasion of Ukraine.Bloomberg

“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,” Johnson told the national broadcaster.

Johnson said Putin’s words were said in a “very relaxed tone” with an “air of detachment”,which led Johnson to consider the threat as Putin “playing along” with attempts to negotiate with him.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the claim and told reporters that it was “more precisely,a lie”.

“There were no threats with missiles,” Peskov said.

Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin.AP

“While talking about security challenges to Russia,President Putin said that if Ukraine joins NATO,the potential deployment of US or other NATO missiles near our borders would mean that any such missile could reach Moscow in minutes.”

Putin ignored all Western warnings and invaded Ukraine in February 2022 having suffered little consequence for annexing Crimea in 2014.

Johnson was one of Ukraine’s most ebullient supporters in the lead-up to the invasion and in rallying global support for Ukrainians. He formed a personal friendship with President Volodymyr Zelensky who bemoaned his friend’s ousting from office last year.

But as the war approaches its first anniversary,Putin’s dreams of a short and sharp takeover of Ukraine are in tatters and Western countries have most recently agreed to supply Ukraine with tanks before a spring offensive from the Russians.

However,these could take months to arrive and require extensive training to operate. Ukrainian forces arrived in the UK at the weekend to begin training on Challenger 2 tanks being donated by Britain.

Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles will visit members of the Australian military this week who are joining British training operations in England,where thousands of Ukrainians are being trained to help fight off the Russian invasion.

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Latika Bourke is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age,based in London.

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