Was threatened with missile strike by Putin over a phone call: Boris Johnson

In what has come as a revelation to many, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call last year. The details of the exchange was featured in a BBC documentary called Putin vs the West.

According to BBC, Johnson tried to deter Russia from invading Ukraine. He also conveyed to Putin that Ukraine is not going to join North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in the near future. However, Putin responded saying, “Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile strike it would hardly only take a minute.”

Johnson added that with the ‘relaxed’ tone that Putin had during the conversation it only seemed like he was playing along with Johnson’s attempts to get him to negotiate.

Meanwhile, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine needs new weapons and faster deliveries to confront a “very tough” situation of constant attacks by Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region. The Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February last year.