U.S. President Donald Trump with then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on September 24, 2019 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craiughead/Flickr)
In a piece published in the Daily Mail on Saturday, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson branded the recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump as “just about the most vomit‑inducing episode in all the tawdry history of international diplomacy.”
In a much‑anticipated meeting on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, Trump and Putin convened at Joint Base Elmendorf‑Richardson amid elaborate trappings: a red‑carpet reception, fighter‑jet and B‑2 bomber flyovers, and a shared ride in the presidential “Beast” limo.
Despite the smiles and symbolism, the Alaska summit produced no agreement, with Trump telling the media, “we didn’t get there,” and declining to offer further details.
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In his article Saturday, Johnson described his reaction to the spectacle of Putin being welcomed on American soil as disturbing, saying it “made the gorge rise” and calling it “emetic to see him applauded on the red carpet.”
He dismissed the event as politically nauseating and morally repellent.
Johnson condemned the platform given to what he calls Putin’s “lies about the causes of the war in Ukraine — a country that in 2014, when he first attacked it, posed no threat whatever to Russia."
Johnson likened Putin’s propaganda and aggression to that of Adolph Hitler, framing it as a cautionary echo of Europe's darkest chapters.
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Despite the vitriol, Johnson conceded that the summit, described elsewhere as a three‑hour face‑to‑face meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf‑Richardson, might have been justifiable “because millions of Ukrainians watched with hope.” Yet he quipped that it was nonetheless “puke‑making,” arguing that any diplomatic benefit was overshadowed by the moral cost of elevating a war criminal on U.S. soil.
The former UK Prime Minister added that the "failure in Alaska" will likely make Trump realize that the only way to fix the issue is to "intensify the pressure on Putin."
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