Boris Johnson doubts that Vladimir Putin will drop a nuclear bomb on Ukraine.
Boris Johnson doubts Putin will use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine
The former UK Prime Minister has claimed that the Russian leader is using threatening language in a bid to present the war as a battle between two nuclear superpowers rather than a "brutal invasion of an innocent country".
Johnson suggested that Putin would be "crazy" to use a nuclear weapon as it would leave Russia even more isolated from the rest of the world.
In his first interview since leaving Downing Street in September, he told Sky News: "I don't think he will. I think he'd be crazy to do so.
"He would immediately tender Russia's resignation from the club of civilised nations.
"It would be a total disaster for his country. Russia would be put into a kind of cryogenic economic freeze.
"The current economic punishment that the West has been able to dish out would be massively intensified."
The former PM also claimed that countries that gave Putin the "benefit of the doubt" - such as China - would no longer support him if he pressed the nuclear button.
Johnson said: "He would crucially lose the patronage of the Chinese and above all in his own country I think he would trigger absolutely hysterical reaction."
The politician forged a close relationship with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky when he was in power and has backed new PM Rishi Sunak to continue the work he started in supporting the war-torn nation.
He said: "I think that thankfully, the UK, has got a seamless continuity of policy."
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