Putin in panic? British prime minister sees cracks of fear amidst war rally, school bombing

Russian President Vladimir Putin is in a panic, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

Johnson said he believes Mr. Putin deployed his military into Ukraine because he fears his power is slipping amidst Russia's growing pro-democracy opposition. The British prime minister made the comments while speaking at the British Conservative Party conference in Blackpool, according to the Daily Mirror.

The comments come amidst Mr. Putin suffering an embarrassing blow at a Moscow based pro-war rally when Russian state television cut the broadcast due to a so-called "technical glitch" and Russian forces have escalated attacks, bombing a Mariupol art school sheltering 400 people, and also striking an arms depot in Western Ukraine with a high-tech hypersonic missile on Sunday. 

Those attacks follow another Wednesday attack on a Mariupol theater where the word "children" can still be seen on its door amidst remaining rubble. 

Johnson said Putin's purported concerns about Ukraine joining NATO had nothing to do with his real reason for pushing the illegal invasion of the country. 

"I think he was frightened of Ukraine for an entirely different reason," Johnson said to at the conference. "He was frightened of Ukraine because in Ukraine they have a free press and in Ukraine they have free elections.

"He has been in a total panic about a so-called colour revolution in Moscow itself and that is why he is trying so brutally to snuff out the flame of freedom in Ukraine and that's why it is so vital that he fails," Mr Johnson said.

"A victorious Putin will not stop in Ukraine, and the end of freedom in Ukraine will mean the extinction of any hope of freedom in Georgia and then Moldova, it will mean the beginning of a new age of intimidation across eastern Europe from the Baltic to the Black Sea."

One of the attendees of the conference was Kyiv's representative in the UK, Vadym Prystaiko.

Johnson's prophetic comments come after Putin suffered an embarrassing blow at a massive pro-war rally at a Moscow stadium on Friday, at which time his broadcast was mysteriously cut off on Russian state television.

Over 100,000 people attended the event celebrating the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki Stadium . Despite the main focus of the event being Russia’s operations in Ukraine.

“Shoulder to shoulder, they help and support each other,” the Russian president said of the Kremlin’s troops. “When it is necessary, they cover each other as if it was their own brother from bullets. We haven't had such unity in a long time.”

Amid the crowd’s patriotic chants and sea of ‘Z’ flags, Putin spoke about Russia’s “historical destiny.” Yet, a “technical glitch” cut off his speech mid-sentence.

“By pure coincidence, the start of the special operation was on the birthday of...” the president was saying when he was cut off, referring to the birthday of Russian hero Admiral Fyodor Ushakov.

The state television quickly shifted to patriotic songs performed earlier in the rally. Ten minutes later, the state media replayed his speech in full.  

Transmission of Putin’s speech suddenly cuts. Funny business with Russian TV. Kremlin can’t help itself. pic.twitter.com/VrT9SMOonO

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 18, 2022

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed the speech was “interrupted due to technical problems on the server.”

The rally comes as Russian troops continue to shell Ukrainian cities and surround Kyiv.

During his speech, Putin justified Russia’s actions by claiming that Ukraine was committing genocide in the Donbas region. “This really was genocide. Stopping that was the goal of the special operation,” he said.

According to PolitiFact, however, Putin's claims of genocide in Ukraine's Donbas regions are false. "There are more injuries and deaths due to mines in non-government controlled areas," reported the website. 

Johnson said that at the moment, he was skeptical of an imminent change in Russian governance.

"I don't believe that democratic freedoms are going to sprout any time soon in the Kremlin, far from it.

"But with every day that passes I think that Putin becomes a more glaring advertisement for the system that he hates and despises, and it becomes ever more obvious why we have to stick up for Ukraine."

England has sent anti-tank javelin missiles to Ukraine to help their forces defend their country against the Russian invaders.