Putin’s psychology and nuclear weapons: The fundamentalist mindset

ABSTRACT Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent threats to use nuclear weapons are grounded in a psychology that is paranoid and also millennialist – that is, focused on an imagined future that will come only after the “good” have vanquished the evil “others.” This is a fundamentalist mindset that is not restricted to religious attitudes and is exemplified by past leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden. In Putin’s worldview, the profound humiliation that he believes the West has inflicted on his sense of self, both as an individual and as a member of the Russian people, is an intolerable injury that must be avenged. In this mindset, violence is a moral imperative. The fundamentalist mindset makes it difficult for a leader like Putin to retreat from a field of battle that has assumed apocalyptic meaning. And because Putin possesses nuclear weapons and has signaled that he might use them if cornered, it is difficult to envision a scenario in which he would agree to a conventional surrender or compromise. Russia must feel it has preserved a respected role in any final settlement, including the shared need to preserve human civilization.