The Kremlin  dismissed as a “lie” accusations from former British prime minister Boris Johnson that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally threatened him with a missile attack.

“What Mr Johnson said is not true. More precisely it’s a lie,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Moreover, this is either a conscious lie — then you need to ask Mr Johnson for what purpose he chose this version of events — Or it was unintentional and in fact he didn’t understand what President Putin was talking to him about.”

The apparent threat came in a telephone call just before Moscow ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022, according to a new BBC documentary to be broadcast on Monday.

“I know what was discussed during this conversation… There were no missile threats,” Mr Peskov said.