Amid the threat of conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Moscow won’t budge on its “well-founded” security demands. One day earlier, the embattled Johnson publicly condemned Putin during a visit to Ukraine.
The leaders spoke by phone on Wednesday, after Johnson missed a scheduled call on Monday as he defended himself in Parliament over domestic issues. According to a readout of the call provided by the Kremlin, Putin criticized Ukraine for violating the Minsk agreements, hammered “NATO’s unwillingness to adequately respond to well-founded Russian concerns,” and accused western powers of “hiding behind references to the so-called ‘open door’ policy of the alliance.”