In 2022, an unidentified member of the Russian Security Service (FSB) claimed Putin had “no more than two to three years to stay alive” as he was suffering from cancer.
Speculation about the health of the Russian President has been made also by reputable experts, including Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6.
In February, he reported claims there may be something “fundamentally wrong” with Putin, telling LBC: “I do not have a clear answer to that but I have contacts and friends still in Eastern Europe who think there is something fundamentally wrong with him medically. But I’m not a clinician.”
He added: “Probably Parkinson’s which of course has different representations, different variations, different seriousness.”
Rumours about Putin’s health have been fuelled by videos filmed during his public or work appearances, in which he, at times, appeared to be gripping a table for support, tapping his feet or looking unsteady.
The Kremlin has regularly rejected allegations about Putin’s ill health, and the president himself has strived to portray himself as strong and healthy, issuing pictures in which he could be seen practising martial arts, hunting or riding horses – often topless.
