Marco Rubio says 69-year-old Putin's mental state is declining


Republican Senator Marco Rubio said that Vladimir Putin’s mental state is declining because ‘his time is running out on the this earth.’

Rubio, who sits on the Senate intelligence committee, said Putin, who is 69, was trying to cement his historical legacy by restoring Russian territory.

‘He is older now. His time is running out on this earth. He knows that,’ Rubio said on CNN on Tuesday. ‘He’s about to turn 70 — he’s not going to be around 30 more years to deal with all this. He views himself as a great historic figure in Russia. Every great Russian figure in history has conquered territory. He views it as his historic legacy to restore Greater Russia, and you can’t do that unless Ukraine is something that you control and have at least a vassal state [there]. And so he’s deeply committed to this.’  

Rubio said Putin’s flashes of anger have shown his mental state. And he’s pointed out that average Russian man dies at age 72. 

‘This is a guy who’s always prided himself on emotional control, almost stoicism, for him to flash the sort of anger that you’ve seen is an indication that we’re dealing with a different guy,’ the senator from Florida said. 

‘This is not about whether the guy is crazy or not crazy or got some other issues. That’s what a lot of people assume,’ Rubio said. ‘This is about the following: We should not assume that the Vladimir Putin of 2022 is the same guy that he was 10 or five years ago. His risk calculus is very different.’ 

Republican Senator Marco Rubio said in an interview on CNN that Vladimir Putin's mental state is declining because 'his time is running out on the this earth'

Republican Senator Marco Rubio said in an interview on CNN that Vladimir Putin’s mental state is declining because ‘his time is running out on the this earth’

Intelligence officials are worried about Russian President Vladimir Putin's mental state and isolation

Intelligence officials are worried about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mental state and isolation

Rubio is a member of the ‘Gang of Eight’: members of Congress who get access to the most sensitive classified intelligence information. But he has said the information he shares in interviews and on Twitter comes from public sources. 

He tweeted on Friday that Putin ‘has always been a killer, but his problem now is different & significant.’

‘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 wrote. ‘It would be a mistake to assume this Putin would react the same way he would have 5 years ago.’ 

Officials have grown increasingly concerned about Putin’s mental state as his invasion of Ukraine goes badly, he and his allies are being hammered with economic sanctions and the value of the ruble has plummeted.  

U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Putin is growing increasingly frustrated by his military struggles in Ukraine and may double down on violence, NBC News reported. 

The Russian president is directing unusual bursts of anger at people in his inner circle over the resistence he’s facing in the Ukraine and the worldwide condemnation of his actions.

Intelligence agencies said it was a red flag because Putin usually keeps a stoic facade and his emotions contained.

‘He is no longer the same cold-blooded, clear-eyed dictator that he was in 2008,’ former CIA Director John Brennan told NBC. 

Putin, a former KGB official, has effectively ran Russia since 1999. 

‘This was just such a bad, bad miscalculation on Putin’s part,’ Brennan said of the Ukraine invasion. ‘He’s never faced something like this before. I’m sure he’s lashing out at advisers, ministers and others — there may be an emotional spiral here. He’s suffered two black eyes, a bloody nose and a series of punches. He is being crippled on the battlefield and the financial front, and he has no good options.’  

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also questioned Putin’s state of mind.

‘He’s obviously been quite isolated during Covid. But I will tell you, certainly the rhetoric, the actions, the justification that he’s making for his actions are certainly deeply concerning to us,’ she told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

During the pandemic, Putin largely self-sequestered in a ‘bunker’ with strict regulations limiting visitors in order to protect himself from the disease. In the process, analysts worry, he may have severed nearly all ties he had with the outside world and lost a grasp of reality. 

And Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence panel, said he’s worried Putin may feel backed in a corner.

‘This is somebody that’s clearly been caught off guard by the size of the Ukrainian resistance,’ Warner said on MSNBC. ‘He has isolated himself. He’s not been in the Kremlin very much. … You’ve got less and less inputs, and these inputs are from sycophants.’

He added: ‘I do worry that he’s been backed into a corner. I do worry that there is no obvious exit ramp.’

Video footage and photos from Putin’s meetings show him seated at a far distance from those he meets with – enforcing the idea he is isolated and acting alone. 

Putin’s growing isolation has intelligence analysts worried. The United States and its allies have hit Putin’s inner circle hard with sanctions and also targeted several Russian oligarchs made billionaires thanks to Putin’s policies. 

Odessa is preparing for the Russian offensive, some of the inhabitants have already left, but those who remain are preparing to defend the city

Odessa is preparing for the Russian offensive, some of the inhabitants have already left, but those who remain are preparing to defend the city

Two workers lift concrete slabs to cut roads in Kiev, Ukraine

Two workers lift concrete slabs to cut roads in Kiev, Ukraine

Video footage and photos from Putin's meetings show him seated at a far distance from those he meets with - such as his meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov above -  enforcing the idea he is isolated and acting alone

Video footage and photos from Putin’s meetings show him seated at a far distance from those he meets with – such as his meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov above –  enforcing the idea he is isolated and acting alone

Putin did gain a miltiary victory on Wednesday when Russian forces took control of the Southern cityof Kherson, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago. 

But Russian forces are working on many fronts and a long line of tanks outside of Kyiv has made little progress in the past few days.

The Russians have said they are willing to talk negotiations – with tough conditions.

‘We are ready to conduct talks, but we will continue the operation because we won´t allow Ukraine to preserve a military infrastructure that threatens Russia,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, repeating an accusation Moscow has repeatedly used to justify its invasion.

Lavrov said that the West has continuously armed Ukraine, trained its troops and built up bases there to turn Ukraine into a bulwark against Russia.

But the U.S. and its allies have insisted that NATO is a defensive alliance that doesn´t pose a threat to Russia.

Russia reported its military casualties Wednesday for the first time in the war, saying nearly 500 of its troops have been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. Ukraine did not disclose its own military losses.

Ukraine´s military general staff said in a Facebook post that Russia´s forces had suffered some 9,000 casualties in the fighting. It did not clarify if that figure included both killed and wounded soldiers.

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