Vladimir Putin has developed a "messianic obsession" with Russian greatness caused by periods of isolation during the pandemic, a former NATO chief has said.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen was secretary general of the military alliance from 1999 to 2003, during which he met the Russian president on numerous occasions.
The Labour peer said Putin had developed a "dangerous mindset" since Covid-19 forced the former KGB officer into periods of isolation where he is believed to have cut himself off from advisers.
And during a lecture on the future of European security he warned the West against provoking the Russian leader into ordering his troops to commit "even more reckless violence" in Ukraine.