Johnson confuses Putin with Zelensky in Commons gaffe
BORIS JOHNSON inadvertently thanked Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his “inspirational leadership” instead of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
The former prime minister’s slip-up came during his first major contribution as a backbench MP in a Commons debate.
The 58-year-old paid tribute to the “heroism of the Ukrainian armed forces” and hailed the importance of the “weapons that we are proud to be offering”. He added: “Thanks also, of course, to the inspirational leadership of Vladimir Putin.”
Mr Johnson immediately corrected his mistake, adding: “The inspirational leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky, forgive me.”
Meanwhile James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, called on countries to reject the “charade” of referendums that Mr Putin looks set to use to annex swathes of Ukrainian territory. At a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, he said: “We know what Vladimir Putin is doing. He is planning to fabricate the outcome of those referenda. He is planning to use that to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory, and he is planning to use it as a further pretext to escalate his aggression.”
The Security Council meeting came a day after Mr Putin raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons, warning that Russia would use “all the means at our disposal” to protect itself.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, left the UN meeting before listening to Mr Cleverly’s remarks.
Earlier in the meeting he said: “What’s particularly cynical is the position of states pumping Ukraine full of weapons, training their soldiers.”
“[They] drag out the fighting as long as possible in spite of the victims in order to wear down and weaken Russia,” he added.