In recent days, the US intelligence community, as Putin’s behavior has become more errant and irrational, has made assessing the Russian president’s state of mind a top priority.
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Since Vladimir Putin launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine last Wednesday, Senior US officials asked intelligence agencies to gather whatever new information they could about how the Russian president is doing. and how their mindset has been affected by the unexpected unified and tough response from European neighbors and allies around the world.
The sudden interest in the Russian’s mental health reflects a sense among some intelligence officials that Putin’s decision-making in Ukraine has been out of the ordinary, and may be due to what some earlier intelligence reports suggest he has done. been in prolonged isolation during the covid-19 pandemic.
“Everything the US has is in the realm of conjecture because Putin’s decisions and statements don’t seem to make sense“said a source familiar with recent intelligence reports on the matter.”For years, decades, Putin has acted according to a fairly specific model“
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In a classified briefing for lawmakers late Monday, director of national intelligence Avril Haines said the US intelligence community does not have a good sense of Putin’s state of mind, according to a lawmaker who was there. Present.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who attended the Senate briefing, confirmed that Putin’s mental state had been discussed, however, he did not want to give more details about it, but he assured to be worried by the way of thinking of the president of Russia.
Speculation about Putin’s mental health began after he delivered a speech on Thursday exposing a distorted and revisionist history that sought to justify his intervention in Ukraine.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, tweeted Friday that Putin “has always been a killer, but his problem now is different and significant,” suggesting he was basing his assessment on intelligence briefings given to him as Vice President of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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Furthermore, longtime Putin watchers argue that the Russian president’s recent actions are relatively consistent with the man US intelligence has been watching for decadesThey noted that he had long shown a willingness to risk military defeat in operations the United States thought offered no chance of success, including ordering a second invasion of Chechnya in 1999, just three years after the US military Russia had already been defeated there once.
“This is no different from anything he’s said before, he’s just saying it all at once in a very crude way. And he’s willing to do unspeakable things, but he’s always been willing to do unspeakable things.said Beth Sanner, a former adviser to then-President Donald Trump and a CNN national security analyst.
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Putin is not “crazy or unhinged,” Sanner said. Rather, he isvery emotional right now because of what he was about to embark on…and it’s been very, very isolated, which adds to that emotional sense. But I don’t think he’s crazy.”
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