Piers Morgan asks former Kremlin advisor about Putin's 'kick the bucket' comment 18 times

Piers Morgan had an awkward encounter with former Kremin advisor Alexander Nekrassov, when asked to explain what Vladimir Putin meant by the phrase ‘kick the bucket’, after an ex-Russian spy and his daughter were found unconscious and poisoned at the weekend.

Nekrassov was shown a 2010 clip of Putin saying: ‘Traitors will kick the bucket. Trust me. These people betrayed their friends, their brothers in arms. Whatever they got in exchange for it, those 30 pieces of silver they were given, they will choke on them,’ in light of the latest assassination attempts.

Speaking to Piers, 52, and co-host Susanna Reid, 47, on Good Morning Britain today the guest was put firmly on the spot over words Putin had said publicly.

Piers made clear the severity of the implication that he’d have anyone who defected killed and questioned what exactly Putin meant by the term. Things took a surreal turn when he asked what he meant by ‘kick the bucket’ and produced an actual bucket to dispel any sort of literal meaning.

In fact, he asked his Russian guest an incredible 18 times what the choice words meant and how they should be taken, to which Nekrassov laughed.

‘I know you keep laughing,’ Piers said.

‘You know what, it is serious, because what he meant by ‘kick the bucket’ is “we’re going to have these people killed” – and guess what, a lot of people have been killed. And now we have another one who’s had an attempted assassination on his life, on our soil.’

After the hot-headed host had said his piece, Nekrassov was given chance to respond: ‘He means that they will be punished themselves. They punish themselves,’ he coyly replied.

‘You must really stop this. You picked out one phrase,’ he continued.

Eventually Nekrassov admitted: ‘He means they will die. That was not your victory by the way, that was a very silly interview.’

This comes after ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and daughter Yulia were both found unconscious on a bench in Salsbury on Sunday, after intelligence agencies believe they were targeted by foreign agents working for Putin.

Nekrassov claimed on the show that there was a lot of ‘false reporting’ on the incident in question.

He went on to goad Piers: ‘There is no balance in reporting here. So now we are seeing these over the top accusations already.

‘This is supposed to be an interview, not your monologue.’

In an attempt to defend the Russian president, he further said: ‘You have to be balanced. You have to wait until conclusions come. The COBRA meeting is happening without any knowledge of what has happened.’

Naturally, the fiery host retorted with outrage over the situation.

‘The COBRA meeting is happening because our intelligence agencies are absolutely aware that there has been an assassination attempt on a Russian defector on British soil.

‘And caught up in this were other British subjects who have been affected, by whatever this substance was, who have had to be treated, who could suffer serious illness.

‘It doesn’t get more serious than that.’

Piers was rather explicit in his implication that Putin was behind a number of murders and attempted assassination, after defecting Russian were either found to be poisoned or already dead.

‘And given Vladimir Putin’s record, I don’t share your view that he is the Mother Theresa of international affairs. This guy almost certainly ordered the hit,’ he said.

Read more:

Taraji P Henson denies throwing shade at Ryan Seacrest on Oscars red carpet
Hollyoaks producer sends Oscar-winner Rachel Shenton congratulatory message
Piers Morgan slams Gary Oldman for his Oscars speech