Kremlin accuse Boris Johnson of LYING about Putin threatening to kill him trends now The Kremlin has accused former British prime minister Boris Johnson of lying when he said President Vladimir Putin had threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine. Johnson, speaking to the BBC for a documentary, said the Russian leader had threatened him with a missile strike that would 'only take a minute'. '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,' Johnson said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today bit back, telling reporters that Johnson had fabricated the allegations. 'What Mr. Johnson said is not true. More precisely it's a lie... There were no missile threats,' Peskov declared. Boris claimed Putin made the accusation on a phone call just prior to the invasion of Ukraine Boris Johnson (L) said Vladimir Putin (R) bragged it would 'take only a minute' to kill him with a missile after he warned him to abandon his plans to attack Ukraine Johnson claims Putin's astonishing threat was made in February last year after the former prime minister visited Kyiv to assure Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky that Britain would back his country if Russia were to invade. Johnson said that on his return, he had 'a very long, most extraordinary call' with Putin. At the time, the Russian president was publicly denying that he planned to invade Ukraine, despite massing tens of thousands of troops on its borders. The former prime minister said he told the Russian despot that war would be an 'utter catastrophe' and trigger unprecedented Western sanctions. He played down the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO, given the opposition from members such as France and Germany, but warned that war could galvanise support behind Kyiv and would result in 'more Nato, not less Nato' on Russia's borders. Mr Johnson said: 'He said, ''Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join Nato any time soon... what is any time soon?'' And I said, ''Well, it's not going to join Nato for the foreseeable future. You know that perfectly well''. 'He sort of threatened me at one point and said, ''Boris, I don't want to hurt you, but with a missile it would take only a minute''. '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.' The revelation comes in a BBC documentary series called Putin v the West, which is due to be broadcast tonight. Johnson played a leading role in drumming up Western support for Ukraine last year. Peskov meanwhile strongly rejected Johnson's claims, arguing that it was either a conscious ploy, or a simple mistake committed due to miscommunication. 'What Mr. Johnson said is not true, more precisely, it is a lie. And moreover, I will say that this is either a conscious lie - in which case the question is, why did he choose to present it this way? Or was it an unconscious lie, and, in fact, he did not understand what President Putin was talking to him about?' Peskov reasoned. 'I know what was discussed during this conversation, and once again I officially repeat: this is a lie. There were no threats of missile strikes,' he added. 'Speaking about the challenges for Russia’s security, President Putin noted that if Ukraine joins NATO, the potential deployment of American missiles at our borders will mean that any missile will reach Moscow in a matter of minutes.' All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility