- Johnson also accuses France of having denied that the invasion was going to take place "until the last moment."

Boris Johnson, in a file image.

Boris Johnson attacks Germany for its position at the start of the Russian invasion: "He wanted Ukraine to withdraw"

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to make headlines despite already being removed from the political front line. On this occasion, the ex-president stated during his speech at the closing of a forum organized this Tuesday in Lisbon by CNN, that France "denied" the possibility of a Russian invasion the weeks before it occurred and has accused Germany of favoring the start of the war a quick Ukrainian military defeat.

In a relaxed chat, Johnson said that the attitude of Western countries was different before the invasion was launched on February 24 than it was after. According to the former prime minister, once the days passed, the countries of the European Union united and still provide fundamental support to Ukraine, but before this happened, they went through a very different situation.

"The German point of view was that if this happened, it would be best if everything ended quickly and Ukraine withdrew," said Johnson, who added that this position, which he "could understand" was due to "solid economic reasons", in reference to Germany's dependence on Russian gas. However, this German attitude did not please the then-British Prime Minister, who said: "not to support that position", since he considered it "disastrous".

As for the French position, Johnson was just as forceful, arguing that they "have no doubt that the French denied it until the last moment", referring to the French secret service, which denied that an invasion was going to take place.

Johnson also criticized Italy's initial response to the threat of an invasion, as the Draghi government was "at a point where they were just saying they couldn't support the position we were taking" given their "massive" reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.

Despite the criticism, Johnson said that once Russia launched its invasion, attitudes changed. "What happened was that everyone, Germans, French, Italians, everyone, saw that there was simply no choice. Because you can't negotiate with this guy (Putin). That's the key point."

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