Vladimir Putin has been advised by doctors not to make any ‘lengthy’ public appearances after he fell ill amid discussions with his military chiefs, a Kremlin insider has claimed.
The Russian President felt ‘a sharp sickness, weakness and dizziness’, while getting up from his desk following a recent video conference with advisers and military leaders, Telegram channel General SVR reported yesterday.
‘The President needed urgent medical assistance,’ claimed the channel which purports to have sources in the Kremlin and has made repeated claims over Putin’s alleged medical problems, including cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
The claims are impossible to verify, but the theory that the despot is struggling with a litany of health issues is gaining currency in the West.
Myriad photos and videos have emerged in recent weeks in which the Russian leader appears bloated and uncomfortable, while other clips have shown him experiencing seemingly uncontrollable leg tremors and walking with poor co-ordination.
The channel also cited the ‘dizziness’ incident to explain an abrupt announcement this week that Putin’s annual ‘Direct Line’ live broadcast – a marathon Q&A when he answers questions from ordinary Russians over several hours – was postponed with no replacement date fixed.
It had been pencilled in for the second half of June or early July, but now no date is specified.
Vladimir Putin (pictured yesterday) has been advised by doctors not to make any ‘lengthy’ public appearances after he fell ill amid discussions with his military chiefs, a Kremlin insider has claimed
The Russian President felt ‘a sharp sickness, weakness and dizziness’, while getting up from his desk following a recent video conference with advisers and military leaders, Telegram channel General SVR reported yesterday
This infamous image of a bloated, hunched Putin gripping a table as he spoke with defence minister Sergey Shoigu earlier in the war triggered speculation over his declining health
General SVR claims to be authored by an exiled Kremlin lieutenant-general insider, known by the alias Viktor Mikhailovich, who purportedly has access to information the Kremlin refuses to publish.
It was the first outlet to suggest Putin was suffering from cancer.
General SVR reported yesterday: ‘The indefinite postponement of the Direct Line is due to the unstable health of Vladimir Putin.
‘A week ago, the president was preparing to answer the questions of the Russian citizens in late June-early July.
‘But his doctors advised him not to make any lengthy public appearances in the near future.
‘Perhaps if Putin’s health can be stabilised, the Direct Line will be held in August… The President’s indisposition has recently become increasingly difficult to conceal.’
In four out of the last five years, the Direct Line broadcast has been in June – though in 2020 it was delayed until December due to the pandemic.
The format sees Putin respond to a torrent of questions posed by Russian citizens in a public Q&A format typically lasting four hours or more, but General SVR said: ‘Lately, the president has been getting tired much faster.’
It comes mere weeks after an Russian security service officer told The Mirror that Putin has ‘no more than two to three years’ left and is losing his sight.
News of the Russian leader’s terminal illness emerged as part of a secret message from the Russian agent to fugitive and former FSB agent Boris Karpichkov.
The message warned Putin is refusing to wear glasses over fears it would admit a form of weakness, and he is now lashing out at his subordinates with ‘uncontrolled fury’.
President of Tajikistan was pictured looking down at Putin’s legs as the Russian despot appeared to struggle with leg tremors in a recent video
The news emerged just hours before Putin appeared on state TV last month with ally Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi, when he was caught on camera awkwardly twisting his feet while the pair sat down for talks.
It is the second time Putin has been filmed making the odd movement, which was also caught on camera during a meeting with Tajikistan’s president, and comes off the back of rumours that he is suffering Parkinson’s.
Putin was seen in a fairly rare public appearance in Moscow on Thursday, despite reports of his recent health struggles.
The strongman compared himself to Russian tyrant Peter the Great as he bragged about ‘reclaiming’ land in Sweden in a chilling new threat to European security.
Putin, speaking on the 350th anniversary of Tsar Peter’s birth yesterday, referenced the Great Northern War which saw an anti-Sweden coalition – led by Moscow – smash the Swedish empire and establish Russia as a new imperial power in Europe.
Putin was seen in a fairly rare public appearance in Moscow on Thursday, despite reports of his recent health struggles
Putin made thinly-veiled threats to Sweden and Estonia in his speech, which will jangle the nerves of Baltic leaders who fear they are next on his hit-list after Ukraine
‘It seemed [Peter] was fighting with Sweden and seizing territories,’ Putin told his audience, a smirk on his face, as he spoke about the founding of St Petersburg on land once held by Sweden. ‘He wasn’t seizing anything! He was taking it back!’
Dropping another historical reference, this time to the Battle of Narva in modern-day Estonia which opened the war, he continued: ‘Why did he go there? He went there to take it back and to strengthen it, that’s what he was doing.
‘It has fallen to us to take back and strengthen. And if we take these values as fundamental to our existence, we will prevail in the issues we are facing.’
The President later admitted during a session with young scientists and entrepreneurs that Russians will have to wait a decade to live better after the country has been cut off from the world by sanctions due to his invasion of Ukraine.
He was by a member of the audience during the session: ‘So, will we live better in 10 years’ time?’
Putin replied: ‘Yes, in the end this [reaching the goals I have set] will lead to a better life quality.’