August 21, 2019

Do Russian MPs suffer of 'persecutory delusion'?

topic:	Humans
located:	Russia
editor:	Igor Serebryany

On Tuesday, First Deputy Head of the United Russia faction Andrey Isaev triggered an alarm after what he has described as "foreign meddling into Russian domestic affairs". The matter seemed so urgent to him that he recalled the fellow MPs from their holidays and demanded they convene for an extraordinary session of the parliament, State Duma, on this Friday, August 23).

Isaev described the urgency of the meeting by citing a threat of the upcoming opposition actions as "directed from the Baltic states and funded by the U.S."

According to the MP, the three Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – established the training camps for the anti-Kremlin opposition with the help of U.S. instructors, who coach them how to stir a "colour revolution" in Russia.

Isaev neither explained the nature of these oppositions' actions nor the source of the information, but he stressed they might happen on the evening of the regional elections in Moscow, scheduled to take place on September 8.

Isaev called to draft a statement to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) by Friday to demand the PACE "to cease those unfriendly actions immediately".

The Russian authorities seem to fall victims to the witch hunt launched by themselves. According to the co-chairman of the Solidarity opposition movement, Alexander Ryklin, they see the threat of "Maidan in Moscow" under their own beds. "Whatever statements the MPs will send to the PACE, this is a completely Russian home affair. It aims to prepare the population for the introduction of the even more repressive laws. These laws could be intended to root out those immune to the Kremlin propaganda", he is convinced.

Ryklin does not rule out that the Duma might "go banana" and approve the laws, which would go as far as the exit visas for the Russian nationals, the routine practice during the Soviet rule, or even the "temporary" suspension of the already castrated Constitution.

A witchhunt, which the Russian authorities have been pouring themselves into, is highly irresponsible and may manifest their very dangerous departure from reality, believes the head of the Russian Psychoteraupeutic League, Victor Makarov.

He sees a close resemblance between Russian politicians' behaviour and a psychiatric syndrome called "persecutory delusion", as described under the World Health Organization's classification.

"I don't think all the politicians making claims about a foreign hand behind recent protests in Moscow actually believe in what they say. Some of them talk that nonsense just to stay in the comfort zone, or not to look unfaithful themselves, or for whatever other reason," he added.

Still, a handful of high-ranking politicians could really believe that "Western-funded" opposition has been sharpening their swords to overthrow Putin's regime, Makarov goes on.

The problem is that however small that group is, they enjoy a power strong enough to render this country into a huge "mental asylum".

"One high-ranking politician who makes insane claims induces a big chunk of the population with his delusion. Lots of people are prone to believe in any rubbish just because it was told by a state-run television TV station or any other official sources. "Bosses know what they are doing", as populace puts it. This is a sort of "mass hypnotic trance", Makarov says.

While some part of the population believes in what "the bosses are doing" more or less sincerely, the other part prefers to stay silent. But only a tiny part of the citizens find the courage to say it loudly that the king has no clothes, the psychiatrist says.

Image: RIA Novosti