Vladimir Putin’s ‘threat to kill Boris Johnson’ ahead of Ukraine war

Vladimir Putin threatened to kill Boris Johnson in the run-up to the war in Ukraine, it emerged last night.

The former prime minister said the Russian leader had bragged it would take “just a minute” to kill him with a missile after warning him to abandon his plans to attack Ukraine.

The astonishing threat was made last February after Johnson visited Kiev to assure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Britain would support his country if Russia invaded.

Johnson said he had “a very long, very extraordinary conversation” with Putin upon his return. At the time, the Russian president publicly denied that he intended to invade Ukraine, despite amassing tens of thousands of troops at its borders.

Johnson said he had “a very long, very extraordinary conversation” with Putin upon his return

Johnson told him that war would be an “utter catastrophe” and trigger unprecedented Western sanctions. He downplayed the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO, given opposition from members like France and Germany, but warned that war could boost support for Kiev and result in “more NATO, not less NATO” on Russia’s borders.

Mr Johnson said, “He said, ‘Boris, you’re saying Ukraine won’t be joining NATO any time soon… what is soon?’ And I said, ‘Well, it won’t be joining NATO in the foreseeable future You know that very well”.

“He sort of threatened me at one point and said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a rocket, it only takes a minute.’

“I think from the very relaxed tone he took, the kind of detachment he seemed to have, he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate.”

The revelation comes in a BBC documentary series called Putin v the West, which airs tonight.

Mr Johnson played a leading role in boosting Western support for Ukraine last year at a time when key players such as Germany, France and Italy were reeling.

He confirmed that there were “disagreements” with Western allies, as some were unwilling to move away from their dependence on Russian oil and gas. “One argument particularly used by our German friends was that you needed creative ambiguity when it came to sanctions,” he said.

Mr Johnson said: ‘He 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”

The astonishing threat was made in February last year, after Johnson visited Kiev to assure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) that Britain would support his country if Russia invaded.

Zelensky shook hands with the former prime minister as he visited again on January 22 during Russia’s attack on Ukraine

‘I didn’t understand that myself. I thought you were just going to tell them, “We’re going to cut off Russian oil and gas, we’re going to penalize all your oligarchs, we’re going to seize your yachts,” and I thought I was everyone with me.

‘And [then-Italian PM] Mario Draghi said: “Look, I’m sorry, I literally have to say we can’t do this. We cannot do without Russian oil and gas”.’

Johnson has continued to be a thorn in Putin’s side since leaving office, carrying out a series of high-profile interventions to prevent Western leaders from backsliding. Last week he visited Mr Zelensky again in Ukraine to bolster support for the president’s demand for more Western tanks.

In a rallying cry in the Daily Mail, Mr Johnson wrote: ‘What reason can there be for delay? Why don’t we give the Ukrainians all the help they need, now, when they need it?’

The former prime minister also rejected Putin’s threats to deploy his nuclear arsenal if the West ramps up support for Kiev, saying he would “become a global pariah and plunge Russia into a state of cryogenic economic exclusion that the current sanctions appear moderate’.

Within days, Germany and the United States announced that they would supply tanks to Ukraine, sparking anger in the Kremlin.

Johnson reveals that in June 2021 he agreed to step up military aid to Ukraine after receiving a “secret letter” from Defense Secretary Ben Wallace outlining the looming Russian threat. Wallace said he flew to Moscow shortly before the war broke out for talks with his counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, and army general Valery Gerasimov, who is now in overall charge of Russia’s war effort. He said, “I remember saying to Minister Shoigu, ‘They will fight,’ and he said, ‘My mother is Ukrainian, they don’t!” He also said he had no intention of invading.

Johnson has continued to be a thorn in Putin’s side since he left office and carried out a series of high-profile interventions to prevent Western leaders from backsliding.

“I remember when we walked out, General Gerasimov said, ‘Never again will we be humiliated. We used to be the fourth army in the world, we are now number 2. It is now America and us”. And there, in that minute, was that sense of possibly why [they were doing this].’

Putin v the West airs on BBC Two at 9pm.

Mr Johnson was told to stop seeking loan advice from Richard Sharp days before Mr Sharp became BBC chairman, a leaked memo from the Cabinet Office shows.

Mr Johnson and Mr Sharp sought advice in early December 2020 regarding the former’s desire to accept a loan of £800,000 from Canadian businessman Sam Blyth.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case commissioned the advice three days after a meeting with Mr Sharp on 4 December. But 18 days later he warned the former prime minister not to talk to his former mayoral advisor, whose appointment is now under review after claims he helped secure a loan before taking on the BBC role.

The warning read on 22 December 2020 by The Sunday Times read: ‘Given the imminent announcement of Richard Sharp as the new BBC chairman, it is important that you stop seeking his advice on your personal financial matters.’

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: ‘Richard Sharp has never given any financial advice to Boris Johnson, nor has Mr Johnson asked him for any financial advice.’