Britain’s ambassador to Russia has been summoned to the Kremlin over what its foreign ministry said was the UK’s “offensive rhetoric” over Ukraine.
It said a strong protest was expressed to Ambassador Deborah Bronnert over “the frankly boorish statements of the British leadership regarding Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people”.
It said Bronnert was handed a memorandum stating that “offensive rhetoric from representatives of the UK authorities is unacceptable. In polite society, it is customary to apologize for such statements.”
The ministry said Russia had told her it objected to British statements containing “deliberately false information, in particular about alleged Russian ‘threats to use nuclear weapons’”.
It was not immediately clear what specific remarks the statement was referring to but the British government has been among the most prominent supporters of Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
Mr Johnson previously said the West needed to show Mr Putin it had the “staying power” to support the Ukrainians for the duration of the conflict.
The UK has promised an extra £1 billion of military aid for Ukraine and Mr Johnson said Volodymyr Zelensky’s country had to be supported to take back occupied territory.
“I think if Ukraine were to be crushed or forced into a bad peace, the consequences for freedom around the world would be appalling,” he said.
Mr Johnson has also told Russian President Vladimir Putin to “think about the consequences of his barbaric actions”.
He added: “If he wanted less Nato on his borders by getting into Ukraine, which by the way it was never remotely likely that Ukraine was going to join Nato any time in the foreseeable future, everybody knew that, it was completely mythical.
“But instead, what he’s got is Sweden and Finland breaking their historic vows of neutrality because they’re so appalled and repelled by his violence and aggression.
“I think that is an absolutely devastating comment on what he’s done and his behaviour.”
