Media: UK’s former PM challenged Putin Ukraine to remain outside NATO

In a phone call in the fall of 2021, former UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson directly challenged Vladimir Putin, saying that there is no reason to invade Ukraine. Ukraine won't be joining NATO anytime soon.

In his new book “War”, US journalist Bob Woodward, 81, reveals that Putin retorted, "What do you mean by anytime soon? When is that? Next month?" Boris reassured the Russian leader, "The reality is that Ukraine is not going to join in the foreseeable future." He believed Putin knew this but was attempting to provoke Western leaders into making a public statement, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

This pivotal conversation took place following the G20 Summit in Rome in October 2021, where Boris and other world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and her soon-to-be successor Olaf Scholz, were secretly briefed on Russia's invasion plans. The meeting was held in a secure environment to prevent eavesdropping, during which President Biden cautioned, "We've all seen that the Russians have repositioned forces on the border as they did in April. 

We now have insights into their thinking, planning, and plotting. What remains uncertain is whether they've decided to take action, but the gun is cocked." While Boris Johnson, having received similar briefings from MI6 and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, found the intelligence “entirely credible,” Woodward’s upcoming book notes that both Macron and the German leaders were skeptical.

Woodward writes, “Perhaps it was Putin’s bluff, but Johnson believed it was monstrous of Putin to even consider such an action.” Boris viewed the situation as a “game” for Putin, who had the West trapped, but he insisted that publicly opposing NATO’s open-door policy for new members would be an “admission of defeat.” He privately expressed to a colleague that he regarded Putin as a “small, puckish lowlife.” 

Just months later, on February 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, claiming it was a “special military operation.” However, their quick initial successes did not last, and now, more than two and a half years later, the conflict has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

By Naila Huseynova