'Erratic'? 'Delusional'? Lawmakers question Putin's stability as he puts nuclear forces on alert

WASHINGTON – During several encounters with Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recalled, a consistent image stuck with her: that of a "cold and calculating" leader true to his background in the dark arts of the KGB, the Soviet-era spy agency.

Less than a week into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Rice has noticed a troubling change.

"I have met with him many times, and this is a different Putin," Rice told "Fox News Sunday," suggesting that Ukraine's ferocious resistance has rattled the enigmatic strongman. "He seems erratic. … He has descended into something I have not seen before.”

Rice's comments underscored assessments from an increasing number of current and former U.S. officials, as Putin escalated tensions Sunday by placing Russia's nuclear forces on alert amid the invasion of Ukraine.

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"I don't think he's a rational actor because he is fearful," H.R. McMaster, a national security adviser in the Trump administration, told CBS' "Face the Nation."

Like Rice, the retired Army lieutenant general indicated that the Russian president probably miscalculated Ukraine's capacity and willingness to defend itself and the near-global condemnation the invasion prompted.

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The pressure intensified this weekend, as the United States and its allies upped the campaign of withering economic sanctions, removing Russia from the global financial communication network known as SWIFT.

"What he wants to do more than anything is restore Russia to ... greatness," McMaster said. "He's also driven by the desire to remain in power until 2036. I think now he knows all of that is at risk. The Russian military doesn't look very good; he doesn't look very powerful."

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McMaster seized on an awkward televised exchange between Putin and his intelligence director last week in which the Russian president appeared to grow impatient, drumming his fingers and urging the official to speak plainly when discussing the growing tensions with Ukraine.

"These totalitarian leaders can look strong, but they are actually very brittle," McMaster said.

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"I’ve watched and listened to Putin for over thirty years," tweeted Michael McFaul, the U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration. "He has changed. He sounds completely disconnected from reality. He sounds unhinged."

McFaul said he wasn't sure what the United States or NATO could do to account for questions about Putin's stability in any negotiations.

McFaul, in an email response to USA TODAY, said Western leaders should use "military-to-military channels to get reassurances" from their Russian counterparts.

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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, suggested that he has received briefings in which Putin's mental state has been a topic.

"I wish I could share more, but for now I can say it’s pretty obvious to many that something is off with Putin," Rubio tweeted late Saturday. "He has always been a killer, but his problem now is different & significant. It would be a mistake to assume this Putin would react the same way he would have 5 years ago."

A veteran U.S. Putin-watcher and former spy in Moscow cautioned it would be dangerous to attribute Putin's brutal actions and veiled threats of a nuclear strike to those of a madman.

“What he's doing now is consistent with what he has done and said he was always planning to do,” said Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who served two tours as a CIA operations officer in Moscow, the second as station chief.

“So while it may not seem rational or logical to us – and I agree with Condi (Rice) that it doesn't make sense – I would not say it's because he's changed,” Mowatt-Larssen said. “I would say it's because he's decided to roll the dice and fulfill 20 years of thinking about doing this. This is what he has aspired to do since he took power – to restore not just a smaller Russia empire but the Soviet Union.”

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Putin is using the same tactics he used to rise to power in the 1990s by launching a war in Chechnya, including the indiscriminate mass killing of civilians. Putting the nukes on high alert, Mowatt-Larssen told USA TODAY, is another part of his strategy, "to remind us that he has them and that he might be willing to use them" if the West doesn't back down.

Mowatt-Larssen said he thinks Rice, Rubio and others who question Putin's stability are doing Americans a dangerous disservice by lulling them into a false sense of security about how dangerous and calculating Putin is.

“I think the danger of thinking it is that we're not understanding the nature of the source of Putin's continued obsession,” Mowatt-Larssen said. “By focusing on theories that there's something wrong with Putin's mental state, it distracts us from understanding or grasping the darker reality, which is that the basis for what Putin is doing now has existed throughout his 20-years rule. He’s just implementing the thinking and planning he's had ever since he came to power.”

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Others, including Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested Putin has become more desperate as international pressure mounts against the Kremlin.

McCaul told Fox News he is "really starting to question" Putin's "competency, mental fitness."

The Russian president "seems to be delusional, very isolated," he said, "and that's really terrifying, not just for Ukraine but the entire world."

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told NBC's "Meet the Press" he wouldn't discuss "specific intelligence," but "what we do know is that over the last couple of years, Putin has been more and more isolated."

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"When you are an authoritarian leader and you have less and less input and you're only hearing from people that want to say to the boss, ‘Hey, you're right,’ I think that leads to miscalculation," Warner said. "And I think that is what has happened in the case of his invasion in Ukraine."

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki stopped short of a judgment on the Russian leader's health.

"So I'm not going to make an assessment of his mental stability," Psaki told ABC's "This Week." "But I will tell you, certainly the rhetoric, the actions, the justification that he is making for his actions are certainly deeply concerning to us."

Tom Nichols, a retired professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College, said the Biden administration doesn’t “gain anything” by discussing Putin’s mental state.

“You have to deal with the leader who’s in power,” he said.

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Nevertheless, he said, Putin’s mental state is a “natural question,” given his actions.

Nichols said he watched Putin’s speeches going back 20 years and has not seen him so “tinged with paranoia” and employing such “old Soviet terms.”

“We have to play the hands we’re going to be dealt,” Nichols said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Putin mentally unstable? Some lawmakers suggest he's 'erratic'