Mr Johnson made his speech on Sunday – the 80th anniversary of the beginning of World War 2 – and said that Poland in 1939 was “trapped between the hammer of fascism and the anvil of communism”. On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union’s Red Army invaded Poland 16 days after the Nazis had done from the west. The country was split into a Soviet controlled area and a Nazi controlled area before the Soviets seized control of all of Poland two months later.
This was called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. It acted as a treaty of non-aggression between the two countries and enshrined a firm commitment that neither nation would ally or aid an enemy of the other party.
Nazi Germany was ruled by Adolf Hitler, who was ramping up his plans to take control of Europe, while the Soviet Union was ruled by communist dictator Joseph Stalin.
However, Mr Johnson’s comments have not gone down well with the Kremlin.
A spokesman for Russia’s London Embassy told TASS: “This statement, made on the day of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of World War 2, is perplexing.
“With all historical discussions around the Soviet military operation in the eastern areas of Poland , to describe things in a way that effectively equates the actions of the USSR to Hitler’s aggression is absolutely unacceptable.”
The response then attacked Britain’s role in the initiation of the conflict as Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany shortly after Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
The spokesman continued: “If one is to discuss who, apart from Hitler, is responsible for the Polish tragedy of 1939, one cannot avoid recalling the role of the British diplomacy that not only connived in the Nazis’ aggressive policies, but also continuously frustrated Soviet proposals to build an efficient anti-Nazi alliance, including specifically to defend Poland.
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Presently, UK-Russia relations are strained. On March 4, 2018, two Russian agents poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Sergei came to England as part of a spy-swap in 2010. He had been in prison in his native Russia for high treason in the form of espionage.
Following the attack, then Prime Minister Theresa May suspended 23 Russian diplomats in London in a show of defiance.
Britain is not alone in its opposition to Putin’s Russia, though.
After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, an international coalition of nations and supranational organisations was formed to impose sanctions on Moscow.