Boris Johnson claimed that he received a death threat from Putin

The Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him, in a phone call before Russia invaded Ukraine, “I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, the matter it’s only takes a minute”.

The British BA Media agency quoted Johnson as saying that the unusual conversation took place last February after he visited Kyiv in a last-ditch attempt to show Western support to Ukraine amid growing fears of a Russian attack.

Johnson, who emerged as a staunch supporter of Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration in the months after the Russia invasion, echoed that claim in a new three-part series for the BBC looking at how the West grappled with Putin in the years leading up to the war in Ukraine.

The former British prime minister, who was forced out as British prime minister last September, visited Kyiv in early February to warn Russia that an invasion would be disastrous.

Johnson said he had warned Putin that there would be tougher Western sanctions if he ordered an invasion of Ukraine.

He also said he had told the Russian leader that the escalation would only increase Western countries’ support for Ukraine, which would mean more NATO presence, not less NATO presence on Russia’s borders.

He added that Putin told him during the call, “Boris, you are saying that Ukraine won’t join NATO any time soon… What time soon?”

I said, “Well, you’re not going to join NATO in the foreseeable future… You know that very well”.

Johnson added: “He kind of threatened me and said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it only takes a minute, or something”.