Two people who have seen Vladimir Putin up close and personal – and know nearly everything about the Russian president – disagreed over whether he would actually use nuclear weapons should the Ukraine crisis grow even more incendiary.

Fiona Hill, Kremlinologist and former national security staffer under Democrat and Republican presidents said, "Yes, he would" about Putin deploying "any weapon in his arsenal, including nuclear."

But Mikhail Khodorkovsky, formerly a prisoner in Putin's Russia for 10 years, insists the Russian strongman would not "make a deliberate decision to get behind the wheel of an explosive laden truck for a suicide mission – because the use of nukes would be exactly that – would require believing in an idea."

Hill, famed for testifying before the House committee hearing on then-President Donald Trump's first impeachment, told Politico on Tuesday that Putin is increasingly operating emotionally and would be likely to use all the weapons at his disposal — including nuclear ones.

"Every time you think, 'No, he wouldn't, would he?' Well, yes, he would," Hill said. "And he wants us to know that, of course. It's not that we should be intimidated and scared.

"We have to prepare for those contingencies and figure out what is it that we're going to do to head them off."

Writing in his Russian blog, Khodorkovsky took sharp issue with this suggestion.

"That is not to say I believe anybody will be launching nuclear missiles tomorrow, though regardless of 'belief' such a scenario makes no rational sense," wrote the famed Russian dissident. "A thief will kill for money, but he will not die for it. They demonstrate daily that they have no qualms about killing. They might yet die in the crossfire. But to make a deliberate decision to get behind the wheel of an explosive laden truck for a suicide mission – because the use of nukes would be exactly that – would require believing in an Idea.

"But what kind of idea does a thief believe in, beyond his own enrichment?"

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.