Yes, we will kick Putin’s a*** – the tyrannical, out of touch dictator has no allies

IF I asked you to have a guess at which Russian leader thought it was his right to wage war across Europe, grow Russia’s “sphere of influence” and interfere with other sovereign states, you would think it was Vladimir Putin.

Of course, you would be correct. But it might surprise you that around 170 years ago there was another such Russian leader, Tsar Nicholas I.

He, too, thought force and military might were his path to greatness. He, too, thought his huge armed battalions  invincible.

How wrong he was.

In 1853, at the culmination of his reign, his army got their arses handed to them on a plate — as I would put it — much to some people’s horror.

And it happened  in what is modern-day Ukraine and Crimea.

Carry On villains

Because for all the parade ground displays his army took part in, they could not defeat the armies of Great Britain, France and Turkey.

They simply could not beat an alliance that was more modern and better led.

Just like today, Russia was on her own. No allies and no friends.

I often wonder if Putin models himself on Tsar Nicholas I. He certainly behaves like it.

Both of them were out of touch with their people. Both running the country with a small clique of generals and securocrats, and in the end both laying foundations for the collapse of their regimes.

This week we saw staged events designed to frame the Ukrainians — in what would make even Carry On film villains blush.

Russia’s security council allegedly met on Monday at just before 5pm Moscow time. But the wrist-watch of a participant clearly showed it was  before 1pm.

We also had faked attacks on Russian separatist leaders by alleged Ukrainian forces, although analysis of video metadata showed some of it had been recorded two days earlier.

Twisting of facts

All these things would be funny if they were not at the centre of a deadly game in which the Kremlin has been engineering pretexts for invasion of a democratic country.

If they do, and all the signs are that they will, the potential death and destruction that could be inflicted on a population would be unforgivable.

We have not seen such intimidation and aggression toward a sovereign European state since World War Two.

There is no excuse for such actions. Putin’s twisting of the historical facts, and his appeals to ethnic nationalism to re-establish the borders of the old Russian Empire, will send ripples far and wide.

He wants a legacy to lead him to greatness.

We must give him a legacy — but one of failure, not victory. Just like Tsar Nicholas I.