Vladimir Putin is panicking about the prospect of being overthrown by a revolution in Russia inspired by the example of freedom and democracy in Ukraine, Boris Johnson has said.
The prime minister said that Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine was prompted by terror at the idea of Russians following the example of their neighbours.
And he warned that the war created “a moment of choice” for the entire world between freedom and oppression, with victory for Putin ushering in a “new age of intimidation” across the whole of eastern Europe and giving a green light for autocrats around the globe to use force to bully smaller countries.
Speaking to the Conservative spring conference in Blackpool, Mr Johnson said that a victorious Russian president would not stop at occupying Ukraine, but would also end any hope of freedom in countries like Georgia and Moldova.
The prime minister accepted that standing up to Moscow and boycotting Russian oil meant economic pain for Britain, but said: “There is a cost to these actions but the cost of doing nothing would be far, far higher.”
In a hint that chancellor Rishi Sunak may offer support for families struggling with energy prices in Wednesday’s mini-budget, Mr Johnson said: “We need to do everything we can to help people with their daily costs, help people with the cost of living.”
Mr Johnson dismissed Putin’s purported fears of Ukraine joining Nato and stationing missiles on its soil as a justification for invasion, along with his “Nostradamus meets Russian Wikipedia” essay challenging the existence of a separate Ukrainian people.
Instead, he said, the Russian president’s true motive for his brutal assault was his fear that Russia’s people would want to follow Ukraine’s example of free elections and free speech.
Putin is terrified that the Russian people will take to the streets to demand democracy and remove him from power, following the example of the pro-democracy Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and Orange Revolution in Ukraine the following year, he said.
“Ukraine has a free press and in Ukraine they have free elections,” said the prime minister. “With every year that Ukraine progresses – not always easily – towards freedom and democracy, he fears the Ukrainian example and he fears the implicit reproach to himself.
“In Putin’s Russia, you can get jailed for 15 years for calling the invasion an invasion. If you stand against Putin in an election, you get poisoned or shot.
“It is precisely because Ukraine and Russia have been so historically close that he has been terrified of the effects of that Ukrainian model on him and on Russia.
“He is in a total panic about a so-called ‘colour revolution’ in Moscow itself, and that is why he is trying to snuff out the flame of freedom in Ukraine.
“And that is why it is vital that he fails, because a victorious Putin will not stop in Ukraine.”
Mr Johnson assured Ukrainian ambassador Vadym Prystaiko – who was present in Blackpool and earlier won a standing ovation from delegates – that: “We stand with the Ukrainian people and our hearts go out to them.”
And he warned: “The end of freedom in Ukraine will mean the extinction of any hope of freedom in Georgia and Moldova, it will be the beginning of a new age of intimidation across the whole of eastern Europe, from the Baltics to the Black Sea, and a green light for autocrats everywhere.
“This is a turning point for the world. It is a moment of choice – a choice between freedom and oppression.”
