Boris Johnson once observed that President Putin was a “ruthless and manipulative tyrant” despite the Russian, “looking a bit like Dobby the House Elf” from Harry Potter.
Before his visit to Moscow as foreign secretary in December 2017, Britain’s next prime minister likened Russia to ancient Sparta, describing it as “closed, nasty, militaristic and anti-democratic”.
On arrival he criticised the Kremlin for allegedly meddling in US and European elections while appearing keen to strike a conciliatory tone, making a joke about emptying the contents of his pockets into the trustworthy hands of Sergei Lavrov at a security check. Mr Lavrov, Russia’s fibrous foreign minister, looked bemused as Mr Johnson burbled about sales of British Kettle crisps and Bentleys in Moscow as signs of progress in