British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t have started the war in Ukraine if he were a woman, citing “toxic masculinity” as a driving force for launching Russia’s invasion.
“If Putin was a woman, which he obviously isn’t, but if he were, I really don’t think he would’ve embarked on a crazy, macho war of invasion and violence in the way that he has,” Johnson told German media outlets Tuesday after the G7 summit in southern Germany. “If you want a perfect example of toxic masculinity, it’s what he is doing in Ukraine.”
Johnson’s comments come as Western leaders gathered at the three-day G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, Germany. Allied countries have continued to increase the economic and political costs to Putin and his regime.
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Johnson noted in the interview: “Of course people want the war to end,” but “there’s no deal available. Putin isn’t making an offer of peace.”
The U.K.’s defense spending is projected to reach 2.3% of its annual income as part of a military support for Ukraine, according to BBC. Johnson was to call on other countries at a NATO summit in Madrid to ramp up defense spending and amplify the U.K.’s strong military presence in Estonia.
Last week, Johnson urged Americans to continue supporting Ukraine. “If we let Putin get away with it and just annex, conquer sizable parts of a free, independent, sovereign country, which is what he is poised to do, if not the whole thing, then the consequences for the world are absolutely catastrophic,” he told CNN.
