The Kremlin has accused former PM Boris Johnson of “lying” over claims President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike – writes Louis Auge.
Mr Johnson said the threat came during a phone call with the Russian leader before he invaded Ukraine.
However, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the claim was “not true”.
He added: “More precisely, it’s a lie”.
Mr Johnson told the BBC Mr Putin had threatened him with a missile strike that would “only take a minute”.
He added: “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.”
Mr Johnson said the threat came after he told Mr Putin an attack on Ukraine would be an “utter catastrophe”.
He added: “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.”
He said President Putin had been “very familiar” during the “most extraordinary call”.