A newly obtained Pentagon study claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin has Asperger’s syndrome.
Putin’s “neurological development was significantly interrupted in infancy,” Brenda Connors, an expert in movement pattern analysis at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., wrote in the 2008 study, which was obtained by USA Today.
After studying his movement, Connors concluded “that the Russian President carries a neurological abnormality,” thus Asperger’s, “an autistic disorder which affects of all his decisions.”
Connors and her colleagues that did the study the study are contractors for the Office of Net Assessment, the Pentagon’s “internal think tank” that studies the military’s future.
Dr. Stephen Porges, who is now a professor at the University of North Carolina, was also part of the 2008 study, in which he concluded that “Putin carries a form of autism.” When asked Wednesday about the study, he said he had never seen a finished product and “would back off of saying he has Asperger’s.”
The ONA said it was unable to prove their Asperger’s theory, however, since they could not perform a brain scan on Putin.
The 2008 study, along with another from 2011, were obtained by USA Today via a Freedom of Information Act request.
