Vladimir Putin presents himself to the world as an alpha male: sporty, agile and young at heart. Any weakness, no matter how small, is taboo. But he still cannot stop speculation about his state of health.
Vladimir Putin’s health is a state secret. Since his first term in office, no official information has been released about it. But big secrets breed big curiosity and call for big disclosures. The possible ailments of the dictator in the Kremlin are therefore unsurprisingly the focus of wild speculation again and again. The information vacuum needs to be filled. Whether it’s a cough or trembling hands – everything is carefully observed, analyzed and remotely diagnosed.
Leaked tape recordings of a Russian oligarch sparked renewed rumors last week. According to the recorded conversation, Putin is “very ill” and suffering from “severe blood cancer”. According to their own statements, the secretly made tape recordings have been leaked to them. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov even felt compelled to make a denial in an interview with French television.
But Lavrov and the entire Russian government have lost what little credibility they might have had before the Ukraine war in recent months. And so the denial is interpreted by many observers as confirmation. The public has long since become accustomed to the parallel universe in Moscow: if the Kremlin says something, the opposite must be true.
Vladimir Putin under the magnifying glass
However, this is by no means the first time that Putin has been accused of serious health problems. Here is a small selection of the physical ailments that are said to have afflicted the Russian head of state over the years. Some diagnoses were unintentionally confirmed, while others were probably the result of wishful thinking.
eczema
In 2003, Kommersant-Vlastj magazine published a photo of a meeting between Putin and Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister. The caption at the time read: “On April 29, Vladimir Putin received Tony Blair in Novo-Ogaryovo and joked a lot with the guest. The comedy of the meeting was underlined by the Russian President’s suit, which was apparently tailored for Boris Yeltsin,” joked the newspaper in view of Putin’s visibly oversized wardrobe.
The Putin circle did not like the joke at all. The president was forced to wear loose pants because he had eczema on his legs, it was said. And to mock an illness is not proper.
Back problems
In October 2012, the Reuters news agency, citing a source in the Russian government, reported that Putin was suffering from back pain and was even said to have to undergo major surgery. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the information, but said Putin strained a muscle while playing sports. However, Peskov explained the cancellation of Putin’s visits to Turkey, Pakistan and a number of other countries that the media linked to the president’s illness as organizational problems.
A little later, however, one of Putin’s colleagues spilled the beans. He said he couldn’t play hockey with Vladimir Putin because of a spinal injury suffered by the Russian President. “I know he has a problem. He loves judo. He picked up a guy, threw him down and twisted his back,” Lukashenko reported in his boastful way. His statement on Putin’s spine problems was later deleted from the Belarusian President’s website.
In an appearance on November 4, 2012, Putin himself demonstrated that there was some truth to the reports about his back problems. At a ceremony on Red Square, the head of state clearly limped. The limp was so obvious that the Kremlin’s press service did not publish the corresponding video on the official website, limiting itself only to photos. In addition, the Kremlin categorically forbade Russian news agencies to even mention the limp.
However, the video of the ceremony was published on the Patriarchate’s website – and spread like wildfire on the Internet.
The back problems could be due to a fall from a horse. At the beginning of his tenure, Putin became enthusiastic about equestrian sports. One of the falls from the saddle is said to have been so serious that the head of state could not “stand on his feet” for some time, one of his companions told the respected investigative platform “Project”.
spinal cord cancer
In January 2014, the American published a report claiming that Putin may have spinal cord cancer. The author referred to “experienced experts”, according to whom such an illness can definitely be the cause of periodic back pain. He even claimed that because of this diagnosis, Putin ordered Mikhail Khodorkovsky to be pardoned in order to “cleanse his conscience before his imminent death.” Eight years later, however, Putin is still alive.
pancreatic cancer
In October 2014, the US newspaper reported that Putin had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The author of the article, journalist Richard Johnson, wrote at the time that the Russian president was being treated for the deadly disease by an elderly doctor from the former East Germany. He also claimed that Putin was prescribed a steroid injection, but the Russian president did not complete it because the doctor treating him does not like traveling to Russia. Kremlin spokesman Peskov denied this report.
thyroid cancer
The Russian Investigative Platform. The journalists published data and information about the medical team treating Putin. Striking here: the ongoing care by an oncologist and two ear, nose and throat specialists. The oncological surgeon Evgeny Selivanov is said to have flown 35 times to see Putin in Sochi alone within four years. Overall, he spent 166 days on the Black Sea in the vicinity of the Russian President, reported “Project”. Selivanov is considered a specialist in thyroid cancer. During this time, NHO doctor Alexey Shcheglov paid Putin 59 visits to Sochi and stayed with him for 282 days. Thyroid diagnostics also fall within the area of responsibility of an ear, nose and throat specialist.
Ashley Grossman, Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Oxford, pointed out in an interview with “New Lines” that a possible cancer could also explain Putin’s changed appearance. In the past few months, several pictures have appeared in which the Kremlin boss had a swollen face. “Putin was always a very fit-looking man with a slightly gaunt appearance,” Grossmann said. “But in recent years he seems to have gotten fuller in the face and neck.” This appearance is associated with the use of steroids, which in turn are used to treat different types of lymphoma or myeloma.
Asperger syndrome
In February 2015, the US published an article that the Pentagon suspected that Putin had Asperger’s syndrome. This autistic disorder affects all decisions of the Russian President, it said. This is the result of a study by the US Department of Defense’s Office of Comprehensive Program Evaluation, for which video recordings of the Russian President were evaluated.
leprosy
In the summer of 2020, doctor and professor Igor Gundarov caused a stir when he claimed that Putin had leprosy. The Kremlin boss got infected by the ex-president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko. In an interview with the TV channel “Stalingrad” Gundarov said that many famous people suffer from this disease, but often they do not even know about it, because the first symptoms of the disease can appear only five to 30 years after infection.
Yushchenko is probably not suffering from leprosy. He was poisoned with dioxin during the 2004 presidential election campaign and suffered life-threatening injuries, and his face was severely disfigured. The 66-year-old is still marked by it. Yushchenko’s competitor at the time was Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was openly supported by Putin.
Parkinson’s
Speculations that Putin could suffer from Parkinson’s have been going on for years. Strange appearances by the head of the Kremlin feed this rumor again and again – most recently at a meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko. A video shows the Kremlin boss swinging his right leg and clinging tightly to the table with his right hand. “Putin has Parkinson’s,” wrote Louise Mensch, a former Conservative MP.
However, experts did not see any signs of Parkinson’s on the recordings. “In my opinion, there are no signs of parkinsonism,” John Hardy, a neurogeneticist at the UK Dementia Research Institute, told Deutsche Welle. “He didn’t look well… but he didn’t have Parkinson’s disease.”
Ray Chadhuri, a neurologist at the University of London, agreed with this assessment. “Looking at the short clip, I can’t find any evidence of Putin’s Parkinsonism,” Chadhuri said.
Source: Stern
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