Russian state TV has hit back at Boris Johnson's claim that a woman would not have started Vladimir Putin ’s bloody war in Ukraine with a bizarre rant about his "woman-like figure".
British Prime Minister Johnson said on Tuesday: “If Putin were a woman, which he obviously isn’t, but if he was, I really don’t think he would embark on a crazy, macho war of invasion and violence the way he does."
He added: "If you want a perfect example of toxic masculinity, it’s him [Putin] doing in Ukraine.“
In the interview on June 28, he also described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “a perfect example of toxic masculinity”.
Clapping back at this, Putin has likened himself to Margaret Thatcher in the Falklands War - in order to disprove Johnson’s theory.
Russians have taken delight in reviving a crude tale Putin told in 2014, when he said: “We have this saying, it's a bit crude, it's about a grandma and a grandpa.
“If a grandmother was to have male genitals, then she would have been a grandfather.”
A poster was then promptly erected outside of the British embassy in Moscow of Johnson.
It depicts the Prime Minister as a female - though perhaps not a Russian babushka - with the message: “If granny had balls, she would be grandpa.”
And Putin’s leading TV propagandists took great joy in broadcasting this, evidently stinging Johnson on his recent mocking of the Kremlin despot.
Responding to this, leading cheerleader Vladimir Solovyov said: “Hi to Boris Johnson, who said that Vladimir Putin would not have started a special operation if he was a woman."
He then, referring to Margaret Thatcher, added: “Amazing that the last man in British politics was a woman.”
And Putin’s so-called ‘Iron Doll’ propagandist Olga Skabeyeva waded into the Russian mocking of the UK's Prime Minister, saying: “President Putin, even a long way away from [Boris] Johnson, haunts the British Prime Minister.
“After G7 summit participants rejected his offer to undress and show Putin his pectoral muscles, Johnson said - and this is no joke - that Russia's war against Ukraine would not have happened if Putin, as Johnson fantasises, had been a woman.
“Allegedly the Russian president started the war solely because he feels macho…”
She also told viewers: “I guess we can assume that chubby Boris with a woman-like figure - we saw those weird photos of him - is just jealous of the Russian president, who is in good shape."
“Boris is putting his complexes on display for all to see. And Johnson may continue his alcoholic parties."
