( CNN ) Has Russian President Vladimir Putin gone completely mad ? This question is actually being debated in serious circles . In a telephone conversation with President Obama a few months ago , German Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to have suggested her Russian counterpart is `` living in another world . '' The Ukraine crisis : Everything you need to know . Just last week , a leaked report commissioned by the U.S. Defense Department in 2008 concluded that the Russian leader may have Asperger 's Syndrome , a type of high-functioning autism . The report said it may account for his apparently high degree of control . A Pentagon spokesman said there was no guidance from the Department of Defense on the report and experts told CNN they were skeptical of the reliability of the Asperger 's claim . For the record , the Kremlin has dismissed the allegation as utter nonsense . Putin , though , is an enigma . His unflinching support for rebel separatists in Eastern Ukraine , despite their alleged excesses , has plunged Russia 's relations with the West into their worst crisis since the end of the Cold War . Even in the face of mounting international sanctions that have isolated Russia and helped hobble its fragile economy , Western officials say weapons and manpower continue to flow across the border , although the Kremlin insists it is supplying neither . Clearly , Putin is determined to get his way in Ukraine . We already know , essentially , what this means in terms of a peace deal -- a truce was signed last September , although it did n't hold . The Minsk Protocol agreed that , among other things , autonomy would be granted to Ukraine 's southeastern regions . The Russian language would be given official status . A buffer zone would be established along the front lines and heavy weapons would be pulled back from civilian areas . But Putin may actually want much more . On an official visit to Egypt this week , the Russian president dropped a large hint -- and not for the first time . In an interview with the Al-Ahram newspaper he rejected Russian responsibility for the crisis in Ukraine . `` It emerged in response to the attempts of the U.S.A. and its Western allies , who considered themselves winners of the Cold War , to impose their will everywhere , '' Putin told the newspaper . `` Promises of non-expansion of the NATO to the east have turned out to be hollow statements , '' he said . A solution to the Ukraine crisis , then , may involve ruling the country out of any future NATO membership , however unpalatable that may be to some in the West . Russian diplomats call it guaranteeing Ukraine 's `` neutral status '' -- which sounds much better than `` capitulation . '' The bigger problem , though , is that this may not end with Ukraine . For Putin , this crisis is only the latest in a catalog of grievances , which includes the West trampling over Russia 's interests from Kosovo to Iraq , to Libya and Syria . Putin 's ultimate goal may be to tear up the post-Soviet assumptions about what Russia will tolerate , and permanently change Russia 's relationship with the West . Obama says Putin has failed to modernize Russia .
A solution to the Ukraine crisis may involve ruling the country out of any future NATO membership , writes Matthew Chance . For Putin , this crisis is only the latest in a catalog of grievances , says Chance . Putin 's ultimate goal may be to tear up the post-Soviet assumptions about what Russia will tolerate , he says .