Estonian MP: there is probably panic in the Kremlin right now

The rapid and, for many, unexpected successes of Syrian rebels have triggered widespread jubilation on social media. While justified, Estonian MP Raimond Kaljulaid urges caution when celebrating the potential downfall of Putin ally Bashar al-Assad. He warns that the collapse of Syria’s regime will inevitably bring new challenges, including for Europe and Ukraine.

„Fate of the Syrian dictator will certainly influence Russia's behaviour. This is not the first time, and it will not be the last, that a dictator with a seemingly iron grip on the country will be swept from power in a matter of days.”

„Here's a detail: Putin allegedly kept a copy of the videos filmed in October 2011 in the town of Sirte in Libya in his office. It was there that Muammar Gaddafi, the overthrown Libyan dictator who was assassinated, had fled. There are several videos of his assassination and the mockery that preceded it.”

„The details of the assassination are too graphic to describe here. In any case, Putin seems to have been deeply moved by Gaddafi's fate. He is said to have shown videos of it to several guests in his Kremlin office.”

„Is this not the perennial fear of all dictators, that there will be a revolt and uprising and that the people will judge them brutally? This is what Putin is also panicking about. He has the blood of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians on his hands. If an uprising were to break out in Russia, no one would be likely to judge him.”

„Putin is surely already thinking about how to convince the world, and the Russians in particular, in the near future that a revolt against him remains impossible and out of the question. That he is strong and unshakable, which of course he is not.”
Kaljulaid cautions, „To this end, Putin can do anything. And if he can show his strength anywhere, it is in Ukraine.
There is probably panic in the Kremlin right now. Unbelievable follies could be done.”