Pentagon study claimes Putin has Asperger's syndrome

(yahoonews.com) Washington (AFP) - A Pentagon study from 2008 claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has Asperger's syndrome, giving him a need to exert "extreme control" when faced with crises, according to the report released Thursday.

Experts studying his movements and facial expressions in video footage theorized Putin's neurological development was disrupted in infancy, giving him a sense of physical imbalance and a discomfort with social interaction, according to the report by the Pentagon's internal think tank, the Office of Net Assessment.

"This profound behavioral challenge has been identified by leading neuroscientists as Asperger's Syndrome, an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions," wrote the study's author, Brenda Connors, a senior fellow at the US Naval War College.

"During crisis, to stabilize himself and his perceptions of any evolving context he reverts to imposing extreme control," wrote Connors, who has analyzed the body language of other world leaders.

USA Today first revealed the study in a report Wednesday, following a Freedom of Information request.

Putin's condition also can prompt him to "withdraw from social stimulation as he did at the time of the Kursk nuclear submarine incident" in 2000, when a Russian sub sank in the Barents Sea, the study claimed.

The theory about Putin's condition could not be definitively confirmed without a brain scan, the report said. But experts cited the Russian president's body movements and "microexpressions" as indicators of Asperger's, a high-functioning form of autism. Read the rest