In a forthcoming BBC documentary, former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that Vladimir Putin told him he could have hit Britain with missiles within “a minute.” The alleged threat was made over an “extraordinary” and “very long” call just prior to the beginning of Ukraine war in February, Johnson said. “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. Jolly,” the onetime prime minister explained. “But 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 also said that he attempted to dissuade the Russian leader from ordering what was then seen as an impending invasion by telling Putin that Ukraine would not join NATO anytime soon. “‘What is anytime soon?’” Johnson recalled Putin saying. “And I said, ‘Well it’s not going to join Nato for the foreseeable future. You know that perfectly well.’” The three-part documentary is set to premiere on BBC Two on Monday.
