Putin is Evil, Not Mentally Ill, a Psychological Explanation

‘He is a colossus on clay feet. Putin will do one or more other evil things. This will kill more people. But the verdict has already been passed. And it will be implemented soon enough.’

Is Putin really mentally ill? Is he able to press the ‘nuclear button?’ What role does Ukraine play in the St. Petersburg backyard against the ‘cool guy with thin skin?’ Interview with Roman Kechur, President of the Ukrainian Confederation of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies.

I remember various security conferences in Ukraine a few years ago. Each time, when one of the Ukrainians would say that Putin had mental health problems, foreign guests would turn away. Or at best, such appeals were perceived as a metaphor. Instead, the fresh European and American press is now worried: is Putin really sick?

Europeans and Americans are trying to build a rational culture. In general, Western culture itself is rationally oriented, built on a rational perception of the world. It believes that people should choose something good and avoid something bad. It believes that when sanctions are imposed, someone should back down a bit. That is, to react more rationally — as a rational person would do. But Putin is not responding. As an agreement is reached with Putin, he signs papers, gives an ‘honest word,’ looks his counterpart in the eye, shakes hands. In a second, he deceives and humiliates. In the West, normal and rational people may read this as a mental illness. In the nineteenth century, there were attempts to outline such a deviation as ‘moral madness’ — now most experts do not look at it that way.