Boris Johnson attacked Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview, saying it came straight out of “Hitler’s strategy book”.
He called the American broadcaster “a stooge of a tyrant, a dictator’s dictaphone and a traitor to journalism.”
In a column for Mail+, Johnson accused the former Fox News host of betraying “viewers and listeners around the world” by failing to hold the Russian leader accountable for “torture, rape and the blowing up of kindergartens” in Ukraine, saying, “Not once did he try to stem the flow of lies.”
He said Putin’s message to America was straight out of Hitler’s strategy book:
Stay out of this conflict… and soon we can all be at peace.
The only difference, according to Johnson, was that Hitler had delivered his message through the WR Hearst newspapers and a German-American journalist named Von Wiegand shortly after invading France in June 1940.
Earlier, Rishi Sunak called Putin’s claim that the West and NATO were responsible for the war in Ukraine “patently absurd”.
Johnson also attacked the claim that the UK government persuaded the Ukrainians to fight rather than surrender after the invasion in the spring of 2022.
“Nothing and no one could and will stop these lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country,” he said.
He said he hoped and believed that President Trump, if re-elected, would “surprise his critics… (and) arm the Ukrainians.”
To Republican politicians currently blocking aid to Ukraine, Johnson said, “For God’s sake, remember who you are. You are the heirs of Ronald Reagan, the leaders of the world’s last best hope.”
The 2 hour and 7 minute interview began with a long discourse by Putin on Russia’s history and its relationship with Ukraine.
The White House warned against believing “anything” Putin said in the interview.
Former Prime Minister Johnson was one of the first Western leaders to visit Kiev after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But he has also come under fire for his plans to visit the war-torn country after leaving office. The Independent revealed that senior military officials thought Johnson was “seeking publicity” in the war zone and urged him not to go.
