Johnson on the eve of a visit to Moscow gave an interview to the Sunday Times, in which he compared Russia with a closed and unfriendly Sparta.

When reading the history of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides Johnson realized that "Athens and their democracy, their openness, their culture and civilization were analogous to the West," while the analogue of Russia (the USSR) was closed, unkind, militaristic and anti-democratic Sparta.

"Russia has not been so hostile to Britain since the end of the Cold War," Johnson assessed the current state of bilateral relations. According to him, this is a tragedy. The head of the Foreign Office said that when he was a child, thoughts about Russia inspired him with fear:.

"The idea of ??friendship with Russia seemed absurd, because Russia threatened us with nuclear warheads".

Then, when the Berlin Wall collapsed, came, according to Johnson, "a wonderful moment of hope and change". But now he has such a feeling that "it was a continuous illusion".

Nevertheless, dialogue with Moscow is necessary, although with caution.

"We must be firm, we must be vigilant, but we must cooperate. Together we defeated Nazism.

We must cooperate again to defeat Islamic terrorism, "the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom.

Johnson's visit to Moscow was scheduled for April 10, but within a day the minister announced his cancellation due to a change in the situation in Syria. In early October, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain reported that the visit will be held at the end of the year.

Officially, the exact date of the visit to Moscow is not called, but the Sunday Times writes that Johnson will fly to Moscow on Thursday, December 21.