Russian President Vladimir Putin is in a state of “total panic” over the idea of a revolution taking place in Moscow, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at a Conservative Party conference taking place in Blackpool, Saturday. 

Johnson said, “Why did he decide to invade this totally innocent country? He didn’t really believe Ukraine was going to join NATO any time soon, he knew perfectly well there was no plan to put missiles on Ukrainian soil”, in an address broadcast on the party’s Twitter page. 

He further added, “He has been terrified of the effect of that Ukrainian model on him and on Russia. And he’s been in a total panic about a so-called color revolution in Moscow itself. That’s why he’s trying so brutally to snuff out the flame of freedom in Ukraine; and that’s why it is so vital that he fails”. 

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Notably, Putin has tried to have control of the narrative from the very beginning, when he used World War II rhetoric to justify the invasion of Ukraine, claiming he wanted to “denazify” and “demilitarize” the country. 

However, he’s faced several challenges to this version of events, with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky highlighting his own Jewish heritage and family’s Holocaust experience, and Russia also ending up shelling the Holocaust memorial Babin Yar in Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv. 

Russia also passed a law to imprison anyone who Moscow feels is spreading fake news about Russian troops. Further, state-run media channels in the country have been asked not to use the terms “war” or “invasion” when speaking of Russian troop actions in Ukraine. 

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From the time Russian troops entered Ukraine, there were several anti-war protests in Russia, despite Putin’s government warning against them. Accordingly, demonstrators have been arrested. Most recently, Putin appeared in a huge rally in Moscow, where he praised the Russian forces in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine threatened Putin when they appeared in a news conference after their capture.