Boris Johnson’s war of words with Vladimir Putin reached new heights as the Russian president said that he would be a “disgusting sight” with his top off.
Putin hit back at a series of personal attacks by the Prime Minister and Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, during two diplomatic summits this week.
The mocking began at a G7 meeting in Bavaria on Sunday, when Mr Johnson said that he would take off his jacket to show he was “tougher than Putin” – a reference to staged photographs of the Russian leader, topless and taking part in outdoor pursuits such as horse riding and river fishing.
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said that the pair should go “bare-chested horseback riding”, while Mr Johnson said they should “show them our pecs”.
Speaking at the Caspian Summit in Turkmenistan, Putin hit back at the two Western leaders.
“I don’t know how they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist,” he said. “But I think it would be a disgusting sight in any case.”
He said that to look good, “it’s necessary to stop abusing alcohol and other bad habits, do physical exercise and take part in sports”.
Mr Johnson was a schoolboy rugby player and is often pictured jogging, although sometimes in a pair of formal leather shoes.
He has also been photographed playing tennis, while a source close to him said he was “not a big drinker”.
The latest exchange came after Mr Johnson and Mr Wallace criticised Putin for being “macho” and a “lunatic”.
The Prime Minister said on Tuesday: “If Putin were a woman, which he obviously isn’t… but if he were, I really don’t think he would have embarked on a crazy macho war, an invasion of violence, in the way that he has.
“If you want a perfect example of toxic masculinity, it’s what he is doing in Ukraine.”
Asked in a separate interview whether he thought Putin was evil, the Prime Minister replied: “I think it probably follows that if you are what you do, then certainly. It’s been an appalling act of unwarranted aggression against the innocent population [of Ukraine].”
Mr Wallace, who has previously accused Putin of going “full tonto” by invading Ukraine, doubled down on the Prime Minister’s comments and said that the Russian leader, who is 5ft 7in tall, was suffering from “small man syndrome”.
He told LBC: “I certainly think Putin’s view of himself and the world is a small man syndrome, macho view. You rarely hear the phrase ‘small woman syndrome’, and he’s got it in spades.”
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The Defence Secretary added: “I think the real challenge here is that the Russian system’s view that somehow some states are lesser than others and their rights do not count.
“If they want to paint themselves into a new history, they seem to think the way to do that is through violence and invasion, and that is something I worry about.”
Asked whether the Government had begun insulting Putin as a strategy to belittle Russia because of the war in Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesman replied: “It is not a deliberate policy.”
Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, refused to repeat the insults of her Cabinet colleagues and suggested that name-calling was unhelpful to resolving the situation in Ukraine.
She told Times Radio: “[Putin] clearly is capable of very, very evil acts. I don’t pretend that I can conduct a psychological analysis on him, nor do I think it’s helpful.”
Asked if women are less aggressive, Ms Truss said: “I think that both women and men are capable of terrible and appalling acts.”
At a press conference to mark the end of the Nato summit in Madrid, Mr Johnson was asked whether he thought it was “wise” to begin trading insults with Putin, who has a “very large nuclear arsenal”.
The Prime Minister did not repeat any of his earlier comments and spoke instead about the work that allies had completed at the conference.
“I think the most important conclusion that Vladimir Putin needs to draw from what’s happened today and last few days in Nato and previously the G7 is that we are taking a line condemning what he’s done in Ukraine and have resolved to do everything that we can to help the Ukrainians to repel his troops,” he said.
“I think that he should think about the consequences of his barbaric actions and the way his invasion has actually brought the West together.”
Putin’s trip to Turkmenistan to meet allies in central Asia is thought to be his first trip outside the country since his invasion of Ukraine in February.
Downing Street does not expect him to attend a planned G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia in November, but Mr Johnson has cautioned against a boycott by Western leaders if he does.
“I think if you vacate something like the G20, you risk just handing the propaganda opportunity to others,” he said.
