Boris Johnson insists he had nothing to do with the derailing of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev early in the conflict
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he was “amazed” to hear allegations that he played a pivotal role in the breakdown of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, according to his new memoir.
In a chapter of his lengthy work titled “Unleashed” – which has been described by several Western media outlets as “sour,” “unbelievable” and the “memoirs of a clown” – Johnson recalls the moment he learned that some blame him for the ongoing bloodshed.
According to Johnson, while dining at a restaurant in Greece after his resignation, he noticed a German family at the next table, and that a woman seated there seemed to be “eyeing me grimly.” Later, he continued, the woman came up to the former prime minister and handed him a note saying: “Mr. Johnson, how can you live with yourself when hundreds of thousands of people have died after you went to Kiev and stopped a peace agreement in April 2022?”
Johnson claimed that he was “amazed” by the jab, adding that he only later found out that this view was gaining ground, both in Germany and elsewhere.
“It is complete tripe. The Ukrainians were never going to agree to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s terms – nothing like them,” the former prime minister stated, explaining this reluctance by citing Russia’s alleged war crimes – which Moscow has consistently denied.
Johnson went on to explain that he doubted that any Ukrainian leader could have agreed to such a peace deal and “survive… for more than five minutes in office.” He stated that his goal during his visit to Kiev shortly before the negotiations in Istanbul collapsed “was not to avert a deal, or to scupper Putin’s beautiful ‘peace plan’” but rather “to reassure [Vladimir] Zelensky of Western support.”
In early April 2022, the then-prime minister embarked on a surprise visit to Kiev, with his office saying at the time that the talks with Zelensky focused on long-term military support. Later, however, Moscow said that Johnson had scuttled the peace talks in Istanbul by allegedly advising Kiev to “keep fighting.” David Arakhamia, then head of the Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations, also acknowledged that Johnson had played an influential role in the process.
President Putin has said that Moscow and Kiev were close to signing a peace deal under which Ukraine would have committed to “permanent neutrality,” downsized its military and received certain security guarantees. In early July, he said that this agreement could still serve as a springboard for further engagement. However, after Ukrainian large-scale incursion in Russia’s Kursk Region, Moscow ruled out any talks with Kiev for as long as it continues to attack civilians.
