Putin claims Boris Johnson scuppered efforts to end Ukraine invasion

Vladimir Putin has repeated a claim that Boris Johnson scuppered negotiations for a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine, which the former UK prime minister has previously labelled “nonsense”.

During a highly anticipated sit-down interview with former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, the Russian president said, via a translator, that a “huge document” had been prepared and approved by the head of the Ukrainian delegation, before Mr Johnson had stepped in and “dissuaded” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“He put his signature and then he himself said, ‘we were ready to sign it and the war would have been over long ago’. However, Prime Minister Johnson came talk to us out of it, and we've missed that chance,“ the Independent reports, quoting the Russian leader as saying.

In an interview with The Times in January, Mr Johnson strongly denied the claims, which have been previously aired by Moscow, describing them as “total nonsense” and “Russian propaganda.”

Mr Johnson asserted that, during a conversation with Mr Zelenskyy following the peace talks in Istanbul, he had “expressed concerns” about the nature of the potential agreement, but assured him of the UK’s unwavering support for Ukraine.

He added that: “No peace proposals or peace agreement were possible in February or March 2022. Russia entered Ukraine solely for the sake of seizing territories, killing citizens and overthrowing a democratic government.”

The former prime minister’s rebuttal came following statements made by David Arahamiya, the leader of the Servant of the People party faction in the Verkhovna Rada and head of the Ukrainian delegation in talks with Russia, in November 2023.

Mr Arahamiya cited a previous visit by Mr Johnson to Kyiv as forming part of the decision not to negotiate with Moscow in 2022. Mr Johnson had allegedly said that Ukraine “shouldn’t sign anything with them at all – and let’s just fight.”

Speaking of the proposed negotiations, Mr Putin continued: “We have never refused... and the fact that they obeyed the demand or persuasion of Mr Johnson, the former prime minister of Great Britain, seems ridiculous and very sad to me.

“Because as Mr Arahamiya put it, we could have stopped those hostilities with war a year and a half ago already. But the British persuaded us and we refused this. Where is Mr Johnson now? And the war continues.”

Putin used an interview with Carlson to urge Washington to recognize Moscow's interests and persuade Ukraine to sit down for talks.

Putin pointed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's refusal to conduct talks with the Kremlin. He argued that it's up to Washington to stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and convince Kyiv, which he called a US “satellite,” to sit down for negotiations.

“We have never refused negotiations,” Putin said. “You should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to a negotiating table.”

Putin warned that the West will never succeed in inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia in Ukraine and rejected allegations that Russia was harbouring plans to attack Poland or other NATO countries.