Ukraine crisis exposes Putin's 'isolated, paranoid' world

All notions of reliability have been shattered after Vladimir Putin on Monday recognised two Ukrainian breakaway regions and gave a lacerating speech doubting Ukraine's right to statehood just hours after making apparent commitments in telephone talks.

The conduct of President Vladimir Putin in the crisis over Ukraine has opened a window onto the world of a leader who appears to be increasingly paranoid and politically isolated, Western officials and analysts say.

Some Western leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have in the past sought to treat Putin as a credible, if tough, negotiating partner.

A French presidential official, who asked not to be named, said that Putin's speech on Ukraine mixed "rigid and paranoid ideas" which recalled the impression Macron had got in his five-hour closed door talks with Putin at the Kremlin earlier this month.

"What he found at the Kremlin was a Putin who was more rigid and isolated."

Earlier that year, he had also hosted Putin for talks at his Mediterranean summer residence to launch a policy of engagement with Russia, where the smiling Russian leader arrived gallantly bearing a bouquet of flowers for the French president's wife Brigitte.

"There was an extremely violent analysis, somewhat delusional and paranoid... with many historical lies," said France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune.

- 'Speak clearly!' -

Now, with Western powers still guessing over what Putin's final plan is for Ukraine -- which US intelligence has suggested could even involve an attempt to seize the capital Kyiv -- scrutiny of Putin's conduct has intensified.

The officials sat in stiff chairs at tennis court distance from Putin, who watched from behind a desk as they gave their assent to the recognition of the breakaway regions.

"Speak clearly! Sergei! Yes or no?", spat Putin, impatiently drumming his hands on the table.

"We are not talking about this or discussing this!" Putin laughed contemptuously. "We are discussing recognising the independence or not!"

"Naked propaganda is no longer enough for the old fogies and thieves. They want blood," commented opposition figure Alexei Navalny, currently jailed in a prison camp, calling Putin the "head of the (Soviet-era) politburo of the 21st century."

- 'Sacrifice pragmatism?' -

"This somewhat sadistic, humiliating staging had an amazing effect", with Putin determined to "show that he decides alone" in what appeared almost a reference to the representation of power "in the Stalin era".

"We have always said that he was a pragmatic leader, a good tactician. Will he sacrifice his pragmatism in the name of his ideology? It's possible. In any case, he seems ready to go to war," he said.

"Today is the day Vladimir Putin crossed over to the dark side of history," she wrote on her Telegram channel. "This is the beginning of the end of his regime, which can only rely on bayonets now."

...