They believe the tough-talking Kremlin chief wants to bring down the EU in order to “boost his own power” at the West’s expense.
Mark Almond, director of Oxford’s Crisis Research Institute, said Mr Putin is “relentlessly wooing” nationalist leaders and trying to undermine the union.
He said: “His slick propaganda machine encourages the Russian people to embrace the Kremlin’s message that the West is out to get them.
“But while he’s consolidating power in Russia by promoting nationalism and suspicion of the West, Putin is also doing his best to undermine Western unity by preying on tensions in the EU and in the Nato alliance.
“He presents Russia as the champion of traditional values and of the nation-state, and pledges to make common cause with anyone who feels pushed around by Brussels.
“The Hungarian government beset by the problems of mass migration; Greece with its massive debt; the anti-euro, anti-migrant parties that dominated this week’s Italian elections?
“The Kremlin Bear offers them all a welcoming hug and the promise of support, when in fact all Putin is interested in is boosting his own power at the expense of the West.”
Mr Almond also said it “seems possible” that Russian assassins were responsible for the poisoning of ex-Moscow double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury last week.
Both Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, are fighting for their lives in hospital following the poisoning.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has already threatened to retaliate “robustly” if Russia is found to be behind the attack.
Mr Almond told the Mail: “Putin is relentlessly wooing potential allies in his attempt to destabilise the big Western institutions – the EU, Nato, the US – and doing so in the full knowledge that the West will shy away from conflict.
“And while no one wants to go to war with Russia, it is vital that the West uses the measures available to it to make clear to Putin that he cannot get away with behaving in this murderous way.”
Dr Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London, said investigators are unlikely to ever prove suspicions of Kremlin involvement.
He said the police probe will never find evidence that will lead “all the way up the chain of command” in relation to the shocking incident.
Dr Greene said: “The reality is we don’t know the cause of the illness, so there’s nothing to trace, we don’t know where it’s going to be traced to.
“We do know obviously that there’s this immediate reaction that looks at Russia and that seems perfectly logical, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s correct, or even helpful.”