The Kremlin has complained that Boris Johnson is the Russian public enemy number one and ‘most anti-Russian’ leader.
Johnson was labelled “the most active participant in the race to be anti-Russian” by Moscow amid an emergency NATO summit that took place in Brussels, beginning yesterday.
The British Prime Minister hit back at these claims that came earlier in the day from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when he was quoted by state-owned RIA news agency.
He said: “As for Mr Johnson, we see him as the most active participant in the race to be anti-Russian. It will lead to a foreign policy dead end.”
Speaking at the press conference in Brussels, Boris Johnson hit back at these claims, and in typical fashion, made a joke.
He said: "Absolutely not, least of all me.
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“I think I'm probably the only Prime Minister in UK history to be called Boris, I think I have that distinction, and I'm not remotely anti-Russian."
He said: "But I think what we all agree is that what Vladimir Putin is doing, the way he's leading Russia at the moment, is utterly catastrophic, that his invasion of Ukraine is inhuman and barbaric.
"And the conduct of that invasion is now moving into the type of behaviour that, as I said before, we haven't seen in the continent of Europe for 80 years, and it's horrific.
"So you can be sympathetic towards ordinary Russians, who are being so badly led, but you can be deeply hostile to the decisions of Vladimir Putin.”
Johnson’s actions so far have proved immensely popular in Ukraine, and at the emergency summit, he did not rule out Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky ’s please for “One per cent of all your planes, one per cent of all your tanks”.
Despite hesitancy amongst allies he did not refuse outright, instead saying it would prove “logistically” challenging.
Speaking to reporters, he said: "What President Zelensky wants is to try to relieve Mariupol and to help the thousands of Ukrainian fighters in the city. To that end he does need armour as he sees it.
"We are looking at what we can do to help. But logistically it looks very difficult both with armour and with jets."
Before the summit, he committed Britain to a new package of 6,000 more missiles for Ukraine and further sanctions against 65 individuals and organisations.
Among those hit with travel bans and asset freezes were the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group accused of plotting to assassinate Zelensky.
This all comes as the invasion into Ukraine continues into its second month.
Fierce fighting continues in and around Ukraine’s cities and urban centres and after a Russian failure to capture their initial targets, some experts speculated that there was a shift in focus to relentless air strikes on civilian targets.
Former head of operations at the Ministry of Defence, Edward Stringer, told the Daily Mirror this was brought about by an inability to take the cities, instead, using a strategy reminiscent of how Russian forces razed Grozny to rubble.
He also added it was a useful chip for Russia to hold during negotiations.
