War in Ukraine: Russia's Putin 'is in survival mode' and 'not rational'

PERSPECTIVE © FRANCE 24

Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to ensure his country remains in a permanent state of war. That's the premise of a new book, published by a French political scientist as the world has been marking the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Marie Mendras is an expert on Russian and post-Soviet studies at the CNRS in Paris, and a professor at Sciences Po University's Paris School of International Affairs. She says Putin does not think rationally like the rest of us and "has the logic of a paranoid leader".