When Vladimir Putin addres-sed the nation at the weekend on the deadly crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, many Russians were shocked. The brief video message showed their president nervously stepping from one foot to the other, his face rigid except for blinking eyes.

The pressure on Mr Putin is starting to show. The downing of the civilian airliner – by pro-Russia rebels, according to Ukrainian and US intelligence – has unleashed international outrage at Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

Analysts who once praised Mr Putin’s strategic skills for his seeming mastery of western governments now warn that he has boxed himself into a corner. Moscow justified its annexation of Crimea and its support for an unsavoury and violent band of insurgents in eastern Ukraine with the argument that “Russians” everywhere deserve its protection.