photo: zn.ua
[For urgent updates please follow Ukrainian Freedom News in Telegram]
Roman Kechur is a leading Ukrainian psychoanalyst and head of the Psychology program at the Ukrainian Catholic University. He recently published two interviews in Ukrainian about the Russian dictator: «Putin has already heard the sound of Niagara» and «Let Putin Go Crazy». In the studio of «Tvoe Misto» media hub, Roman Kechur told Lviv Now how he sees Putin from a psychological point of view and what could lead to the collapse of the dictator.
«The main features of his [Putin’s] psychological portrait are formulated around the antisocial personality. This means that a person is only concerned with issues of power and tries to control others through conscious manipulation. Everything he says and does is aimed at controlling us – causing fear and related feelings. And through the control of the senses, he wants to control our behaviour,»- the psychoanalyst says.
According to the expert, the emotional life of such a person is impoverished. He has an empty self and is unable to love, but can be angry and scared. This is the first face of the dictator. However, classical psychiatry says that when such people decompensate [have exacerbations], they present their other side.
«What happens to him when he is scared? He enters the bunker and sits at a five-meter table. You have to wait two weeks to get an audience. … The chef who prepares him to eat is a billionaire. He is seriously afraid of poisoning – like a medieval king who had people to taste his food. So, when he is scared, he becomes paranoid,» – Roman Kechur comments.
Read also: «Putin is crazy, Russia is paralyzed». Interview with ex-professor of Moscow state university
He adds that the dictator can oscillate between an antisocial «cool macho» and a frightened paranoid. President Obama once said that Putin is a tough guy with thin skin. This seems to be a good description from the psychoanalytic point of view.
However, all Western leaders fear that the Russian leader will be aggressive enough to push the nuclear button. According to Roman Kechur, this can happen – but there is a nuance.
«If he is scared enough to push the nuclear button, it means collective suicide. He will kill us and die alone with his entourage. And he is afraid of getting coronavirus, he is afraid of being poisoned. He is afraid of death. He can give such a command only in psychosis.»
At the same time, the dictator’s advanced psychosis will be visible to everyone – the secretary, the adjutant, the secret services and the defense minister. Nobody will execute such a command, the expert is convinced.
But what does the opposite side, embodied in the Western leaders, do to Putin? She reassures him, saying: «NATO will not intervene, we will not be a party to this war.» And when Putin calms down, he becomes an anti-social psychopath again. «He is on a horse. He is a hooligan from St. Petersburg,» – Roman Kechur comments on this situation.
According to him, this means that the West is more afraid than Russia. This means that the Cold War parity was violated because it was based on the same fear.
So, what is needed to be done? The expert says that Putin’s environment should be attacked. All his relatives living in the West must be evacuated to Russia. Then, everyone involved in this story will understand that he is being watched.
«We must not be afraid of escalation. I’m not talking about military things, but about the psychological component of interaction. We must not be afraid of his madness. It is necessary to give control over his madness to the environment. They fear death much more than we do – and they know how to overthrow the tsar. They have such a tradition,» – the psychoanalyst emphasizes.
On the question about Putin’s relationship with Russian society, Roman Kechur says the dictator is its protagonist. Russian society has no other vision for the future but the empire.
The development of Russia as a nation-state presupposes its disintegration. Society is not ready for this. They want to support the empire, so denazification is needed – in Russia.
«We are waging an anti-colonial war, and this is its last stage,» – the psychoanalyst concludes. «I hope we win.»
Nadiya Zhyla, translated by Vitalii Holich
Follow Lviv Now on Facebook and Instagram. To receive our weekly email digest of stories, please follow us on Substack.
Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.