(MENAFN) Germany on Wednesday rejected previous British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claim that Berlin initially wanted Ukraine to rapidly surrender because of Russia’s conflict in February.
“We know that the very entertaining former prime minister always has his own relationship with the truth,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a weekly press meeting.
Hebestreit went on to assert that he was “tempted to switch to English and say it’s ‘utter nonsense’ what Boris Johnson said.”
He underlined that Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his administration as a whole decided on substantial weapons supplies to Ukraine, so "the facts speak against this assumption."
Talking to CNN’s Richard Quest in Portugal, Johnson declared the attitudes of Western countries differed widely before Moscow began its "special military operation" on Feb. 24, slating French, German and Italian stances on the forecasts of conflict.
“The German view was at one stage that if it were going to happen, which would be a disaster, then it would be better for the whole thing to be over quickly, and for Ukraine to fold,” Johnson added, mentioning “all sorts of sound economic reasons” for that tactic.
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