Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson allegedly tried to assure Russian leader Vladimir Putin in autumn 2021 that Ukraine would not join NATO in the foreseeable future, the Daily Express reported, citing the book ‘War’ by US journalist Bob Woodward.
‘The British prime minister addressed Putin in a telephone conversation in autumn 2021, telling him: ‘You have no reason to invade Ukraine. There is no way Ukraine is joining NATO any time soon,‘’ the Daily Express quoted an excerpt from Bob Woodward.
According to the journalist, the Russian leader, asked what deadline we are talking about. Johnson replied, ‘The reality is that Ukraine will not join in the foreseeable future.’
Woodward claims that the former British prime minister believed that Putin allegedly wanted Western leaders to openly state this. In addition, Johnson believed that publicly stating that the ‘doors of the alliance’ were closed to new members would be ‘an admission of defeat.’
He also said that the telephone conversation with the Russian President took place after the G20 summit held in October 2021, when Johnson and other leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her future successor Olaf Scholz, allegedly received information from US President Joe Biden about the transfer of Russian troops to the border.
Recall, earlier the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said that Russia is going through a difficult period in Russian history. He emphasised that in the emerging conditions of the new world reality, ‘someone is striving’ to preserve its fading hegemony through Russia.