Margaret Thatcher Gave Damning Assessment of Putin in Resurfaced Clip

A resurfaced clip of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher giving a damning assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the early years of his presidency has gone viral online.

In the video, recorded at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, on September 20, 2000, Thatcher slammed Putin's lack of humanity during the Kursk submarine disaster.

The disaster resulted in the deaths of all 118 people onboard after it sank in the Arctic Ocean following a series of explosions during a naval exercise on August 12 that year.

Putin, who was inaugurated for the first time in May 2000, received criticism after he continued his vacation in the Russian city of Sochi as the crisis unfolded.

While Putin met with relatives of the Kursk sailors, he continued to face criticism over the government's handling of the disaster.

Thatcher, an icon of conservatism, said in her speech that Putin's actions revealed he had a lack of humanity.

The former British leader, who referred to Russia as the Soviet Union during her speech, said: "Now we have the new Mr. Putin. I looked at the pictures of Mr. Putin, trying to look for a trace of humanity. I should, within a few weeks, have known better. Because you know what happened? They had the terrible tragedy of the submarine going down, straight to the floor. Whether there was an explosion inside or not, we don't know."

"But it was very interesting what happened. If ever there is a calamity in the West, the whole of the armed forces will go, they'll take everything there immediately. The politicians will immediately get together and say 'What help do we want, they can have anything we can give. We haven't got the help [then] we'll get it from somewhere else.'

"There would be anxiety because what mattered was not the submarine but the lives of those in. And [the] interesting thing was the new leader of the Soviet Union didn't act quickly. This was very soon the comment. He didn't try to mobilize anyone else. We didn't know whether we could help, or where to go help and send some of the small submarines just for such an occasion. That my friends was very, very revealing indeed.

"They still do not value human life in the same way that we do. And so all the help got there, I'm afraid, really rather late. And I am relieved in one way that Mr. Putin got so much criticism for what he should have done but didn't. And that again shows the Soviet Union and the peoples of the Soviet Union are very much aware of what could be done and that a great more deal could be done than is being done at the moment."

Since being shared by Il Foglio reporter Luciano Capone on Saturday, the clip has been viewed more than 833,600 times online. It has been shared several times since it was recorded and has gone viral in the past with commentators believing Thatcher's comments were somewhat prophetic.

Thatcher's speeches and quips have continued to go viral online since her death in April, 2013.

Putin has continued to face international and domestic criticism over the course of his near-quarter century at the reigns of power in Russia. He has long been condemned for stifling democracy in Russia and has been accused of being behind prominent assassinations and deaths of his critics and rivals.

More recently, Putin was slammed by world leaders after he ordered the February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine—formerly part of the Soviet Union—using the pretense to smash Nazism in the nation. The explanation has been dismissed by Western leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden.

Newsweek reached out to King's College London professor Richard Vinen, who specializes in modern British history, for comment.