Moscow summons UK envoy over Johnson's Putin remarks: Statement

Russia on Thursday summoned Britain's ambassador to Mocow to protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "offensive" remarks about President Vladimir Putin, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia told the envoy, Deborah Bronnert, it "firmly" opposed "the openly offensive comments by the British authorities towards Russia, its leader, its officials as well as the Russian people," the statement said.

"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 broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday evening.

"There, a woman decided to start a war," which ended in British victory the same year, the Russian leader said.