Health mystery of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo Reuters / Maxim Shemetov
In the midst of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the health of the Russian presidentVladimir Putin, who will turn 70 on October 7, is the subject of all kinds of rumors and theories, which are gaining more and more strength following the lack of information on the well-being of the president.
However, it is not something specific in this warlike confrontation. Is that during his last two terms, almost nothing has leaked about his true state of healthexcept for the images that seem to indicate that he is in good shape: Putin on horseback, Putin fishing without a shirt, Putin as a judoka …
But as the Russian president ages and his physique changes over the years, speculation about a possible disease is growing.
The Russian website Proekt published the More comprehensive survey on Putin’s state of health. This independent media outlet concluded that the president’s trips to his Sochi home on the shores of the Black Sea in recent years coincided with the arrival of a large group of doctors. Among them was a thyroid cancer specialist, Yevgeny Selivanov.
Vladimir Putin, on horseback and without shirt Photo RIA-NOVOSTI / ALEXEY DRUZHIININ.
At that time, there was talk of some rumors bloodbaths extracted from the antlers of Siberian deer, which presumably improve life expectancy and sexual staminamethod recommended by the Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu, a native of Siberia.
According to the French weekly Paris Match, during visits to France in 2017 and Saudi Arabia in 2019, Putin was escorted to the bathroom by a team tasked with collecting his feces to avoid any specimens who could provide information on his health.
Recently, the weekly Newsweek, citing US intelligence sources, said Putin had been treated in April for advanced cancer. The US National Security Council denied being the source of the information.
Ukrainian intelligence chief General Kyrylo Budanov told Sky News that Putin had cancer.
Vladimir Putin at a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Photo REUTERS / Maxim Shemetov
The only time the Kremlin confirmed that Putin had a health problem was in the fall of 2012, when he disappeared from the public eye and canceled the meetings. At the time, the Kremlin was referring to aa muscular effort and a Russian newspaper pointed to back problems.
According to the Proekt page, it was during this time that major health problems appeared. The coronavirus pandemic has caused the Russian president to behave strangely, according to observers, reflecting his paranoia.
Officially, the head of state is vaccinated but, unlike most of his counterparts around the world, no pictures of him getting his fix have ever been published.
Its visitors are subject to drastic precautionary measures, including days of quarantine or, in the case of French President Emmanuel Macron, a giant oval table that kept him at a distance from the Russian leader during a tense meeting in the Kremlin.
Only visitors who agree to undergo the tests – which Macron has refused – can approach Putin and shake his hand.
Putin’s health: his allies deny the rumors
The spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, has always denied this information. Even the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, who at the end of May declared on the French channel TF1 that no one “who has a whole head can see in this person (Putin) any signs of disease or any other condition“.
For his part, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Putin, said in a March interview on Japanese television: “If you think something is wrong with President Putin, you are the most unfortunate person in the world.”
Vladimir Putin and the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. AP photo.
In his recent appearances, including a forum on Peter the Great and a meeting with Turkmenistan’s president Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Putin showed no signs of weakness.
Most observers believe that Putin, without a clear successor to the Kremlin, will reappear in the 2024 elections after controversial constitutional changes allowed him to aspire to a third term.
“The country doesn’t have a grain of truth about its president’s physical and emotional state“, regrets Proekt’s chief editor, Roman Badanin.
He added: “The whole planet doesn’t know if a person who can destroy humanity by pressing a red button is in good health.”
With information from AFP.
Source: Clarin
