The 69-year-old Russian leader has been the subject of health rumours for months as the war on Ukraine has not been going to plan. Recent data from the Ukraine military suggests that more than 44,000 Russian troops have been killed and 1,800 tanks have been destroyed since the invasion began in February.
According to the Sun, the General SVR Telegram channel has made recent claims about Vladimir Putin’s health.
The channel is opposed to the Russian government and claims to offer “insider” information which says the Russian President is “seeking to shut down” their services.
They said: “With a high degree of probability, we can say that soon the President will not be able to personally hold meetings and participate in large events.”
The channel said that senior Russian officials will explain Putin’s absence from meetings by saying he will be isolated due to the return of the Covid pandemic.
They have claimed Putin is suffering from cancer but have also reported in the past that the Russian president is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and a schizoaffective disorder.
The counter-information channel has reported that Russian security officials have told Putin that he has run out of “good” options.
There have been claims that the Russian President is undecided between accepting defeat in Ukraine or using nuclear weaponry.
The report comes as Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, faced a drone attack which managed to evade Russian electronic warfare defences and fly over a naval base.
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It has been reported that Nikolai Patrushev, lead security advisor, told Putin “to find a way out of the current situation”.
SVR Telegram claims that there is “despondency among Putin’s senior entourage” that the Russian President privately voiced the “extreme” option with senior officials to surrender the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
Russian defence chiefs have warned that Ukraine’s counter-strike into the recently invaded Ukraine territories may be “effective”
The channel claims: “Almost the entire military leadership of Russia lays the blame for both the unsuccessful start and, in general, the course of the military operation, and the huge losses of manpower and weapons, precisely on President Vladimir Putin.”
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SVR Telegram has said that in recent meetings, government officials have discussed “various options” on how to proceed with the Ukraine war.
Options included the “possibility of mobilising and using tactical nuclear weapons, to opening a second front in a third country, and, finally, to ‘gestures of good will’ with the return of the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions to Ukraine.”
The counter-information channel stated that the surrender of Ukraine’s territories may be the “beginning of the end” of Putin’s presidency and regime.