A close Putin ally has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson, calling him a “retired idiot” who wants to start World War 3. The stinging rebuke came after the former British Prime Minister criticised Nato’s “mealy mouthed procrastination” over membership for Ukraine. Last week, Nato leaders met in Vilnius, Lithuania to discuss security issues and the on going war in Ukraine.
President Zelensky had expected a formal invitation to join the military alliance at the summit, or at the very least a timeline for future membership.
When neither were forthcoming, Ukraine’s President could not contain his frustration, calling the refusal to even offer a membership timeline as “absurd”.
Mr Johnson also strongly condemned the decision, describing it as “madness” and a “mistake” in his Daily Mail column.
The former Prime Minister’s interjection provoked a furious response from Putin’s righthand man, Dmitry Medvedev.
The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council suggested Mr Johnson should be admitted to a lunatic asylum.
Taking to his Telegram channel, he wrote: “The former British Prime Minister Boriska Johnson suggested accepting the Banderites (Ukraine) into NATO ‘without conditions’.
“He would, as a retired idiot, be accepted without conditions to a psychiatric hospital.
“There amongst his own, he will be able to portray himself as a tough guy and demand the start of WW3.”
The term “banderite” is Kremlin shorthand for Ukrainian fascists and refers to Stepan Bandera, a far right leader who pledged to work with Nazi Germany after it invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June.
Medvedev, who used to work as Putin’s secretary when he was a deputy mayor in St Petersburg, then quoted some lines from a song by the famous dissident Soviet poet and song writer Vladimir Vysotsky.
He wrote: “Then everything will be like Vysotsky sang: ‘He cried, then laughed, then became prickly like a hedgehog
“‘He mocked us… well, he’s crazy, what can you say.'”
The former Tory leader was highly critical of Western leaders after the Vilnius summit resulted in bitter disappointment for Ukraine.
He expressed fears that some Western leaders may rule out future Nato membership for Kyiv altogether, as part of a “negotiated solution” with Russia.
“That is madness,” he wrote. “Throughout this war there has been a western tendency to make the same mistake, over and over again: to overestimate Putin, and to underestimate Ukraine.
“No country is in greater need of Nato membership. All the alliance needed to do was to set out a timetable – not for instant membership; that makes no sense as long as the war is live – but for membership as soon as victory is won.
“All we needed was words to the effect that accession could begin as soon as the war was over, on the understanding that this could be as early as next year.
“It would have been the right message for those brave Ukrainians now fighting for their lives – like struggling swimmers who suddenly see the safety of the shore.”
The idea that Ukraine should remain neutral after the war is beginning to gain traction among some military analysts.
Sean Bell, a former British Air Vice-Marshal, argued the prospect of Ukraine joining the military alliance could in fact prolong and escalate the war in an article for Sky News.
He said it was important to take Russian security interests into account, in order to reach a viable peace deal.
Mr Bell conceded that Moscow was paranoid about Nato enlargement, that had seen many former Warsaw Pact countries joining the alliance following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
