Gordon Brown has revealed that Vladimir Putin threatened him during an official visit to Moscow and says the West ‘failed’ to stand up to the Russian President for years before his invasion of Ukraine.
‘I was under no illusions about what Putin was like,’ the former Prime Minister said in an interview this weekend.
Recalling a 2006 visit to the Kremlin while Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Brown said: ‘I was put in a very low seat so that I was looking up at him. He’s certainly a relatively small man, and he wears these stacked heels.
Gordon Brown says the West has ‘failed to’ stand up to Vladimir Putin over years, as he claims that Putin threatened him on a visit to Moscow during his time as Chancellor. Pictured: Brown (left) and Putin (right) during a meeting at the Kremlin on 11 February 2006
‘Anyway, that day he took out these index cards, and proceeded to read out all this information he had about me, as though he wanted to prove that he knew more about me than I knew about myself. So when people say that Putin’s changed and is only now threatening, I can tell you that he was threatening me even then.’
Mr Brown believes Putin only responds to ‘an uncompromising and unyielding show of strength,’ adding: ‘The only thing Putin understands is strength. Weakness he will exploit; he’s opportunistic to the nth degree.’
And he warned that the West’s inaction over Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, which took place while David Cameron was Prime Minister, ‘allowed Putin to think he might get away with further incursions’.
This comment was made by Volodymr Zelesky, Ukrainian President. He visited soldiers in a bunker at the frontline of southern Mykolaiv.
Despite Russian advances in eastern Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said: ‘Our brave men. They are all working hard. We are certain to prevail! We will definitely win.’
Western-supplied heavy arms are being delivered to front lines. However, not in the quantities required by Ukrainian officials for pushing back Russian forces.
Brown believes Putin only responds to ‘an uncompromising and unyielding show of strength
There were concerns last night that Russia might attempt to seize Sievierodonetsk, a key Russian city. Serhiy Gaidai (the regional governor of Luhansk) claimed that Russian reservists were being sent to this area.
Meanwhile, as he returned to the UK from a visit to Kyiv, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘The Russians are grinding forward inch by inch and it is vital for us to show what we know to be true, which is that Ukraine can win and will win.’
He added: ‘When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it is very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them the strategic resilience that they need.’