Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Russian President Vladimir Putin had actually threatened him with a lethal rocket attack days before the Russian leader bought his troops into Ukraine.

He sort of threatened me at one point and stated, Boris, I dont wish to injure you, but with a missile, it would just take a minute, or something like that, Johnson priced quote Putin as saying.The declared risk came in a phone call on Feb.

2, 3 weeks prior to Russias intrusion of Ukraine, according to a new BBC documentary on Putins interactions with world leaders to be broadcast Monday.Johnson described Putins tone as relaxed with an air of detachment.

[H] e was simply playing in addition to my efforts to get him to negotiate not to attack pro-Western Ukraine, the previous prime minister informed the BBC.

The Kremlin on Monday rejected Johnsons claims as not true, or more aptly a lie.

The BBC suggested Johnson would have had no choice however to take seriously the Russian leaders danger, regardless of how lightly it was delivered.

9 days after the call, on Feb.

11, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace showed up in Moscow, where his Russian counterpart assured him that Russia would not invade Ukraine.Wallace described the assurances as a relatively chilling, but direct lie that both sides had know.

I believe it had to do with stating Im effective, he told the BBC.Wallace stated General Valery Gerasimov, who was appointed to lead Russias military project in Ukraine this month, informed him at the end of the talks: Never again will we be humiliated.

Johnson, who stepped down in July 2022 in the middle of a series of domestic scandals, has actually been one of the most impassioned Western backers of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky because the start of the intrusion.