The former Downing Street incumbent made the claim in a new three-part series for BBC Two looking at how the West grappled with Mr Putin in the years leading up to the war in Ukraine.
Mr Johnson, talking about a phone call between the two leaders ahead of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, said: "He sort of threatened me at one point and said: 'Boris, I don't want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute,' or something like that."
But the Kremlin disputed the claim, saying there were "no threats with missiles" during the bilateral conversation held in February 2022.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, asked about Mr Johnson's comments yesterday, said that the British politician's account was untrue, "or, more precisely, it was a lie”.
Mr Peskov said the former prime minister may have deliberately lied or failed to understand what the Russian leader was telling him.
"There were no threats with missiles," Mr Peskov said during a conference call with reporters.
This story is from the January 31, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the January 31, 2023 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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