The war in Ukraine is a “perfect example of toxic masculinity”. Boris Johnson said so during the G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, Germany. It is not the first time that the British prime minister has made a striking statement about the Russian president.
In the aftermath of the G7 summit in Bavaria’s Schloss Elmau, Johnson gave an interview to German broadcaster ZDF. In it, the British Prime Minister claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he had been a woman. “If Putin was a woman, which he isn’t…” it sounded. “But if he had, I don’t think he would have started this mad, macho war and this invasion of violence.”
According to Johnson, the war that Putin has started is the “perfect example of toxic masculinity”.
At the start of the G7, Johnson also made a striking statement about Putin. For example, the British Prime Minister asked his colleagues from the other G7 countries whether he should keep his suit vest on for the traditional group photo, because “we all have to show that we are tougher than Putin”.
Along with his Canadian colleague Justin Trudeau, he also joked about a “bare-chested horseback ride”. That is a reference to the staged photo shoot with the Russian president from years ago, in which he was seen half-naked on a horse.