International security

'Scary' that Boris Johnson represents a nuclear power – Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

British foreign minister Boris Johnson is poisoned with hatred and anger so it is scary that he represents a nuclear power, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Maria Zakharova was commenting on Johnson's earlier statement that compared Russia's hosting of this year's World Cup to the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.

“Any such parallels and comparisons between our country, that lost millions of lives in the fight against Nazism, fought with an enemy on its own territory, and then liberated Europe [and Nazi Germany] are absolutely unacceptable,” she said, in a statement published on Facebook.

The Russian ministry spokeswoman then added that such statements are “unworthy of a head of a European state’s diplomatic service … It is clear that [Boris Johnson] is poisoned with hatred and anger,” she said, also denouncing his words as “unprofessional” and “rude.”

It is “scary” that “this man is a representative of a nuclear power that bears a special responsibility for its actions in the international arena as well as for the preservation of international peace,” Zakharova said.