Vladimir Putin is “seriously unwell” but Moscow will continue to project the Russian President’s health as "unchanging" amid growing concerns about his wellbeing, an expert has claimed.
There is growing speculation about Putin’s health after the 71-year-old reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest over the weekend.
Despite Moscow rejecting the account, Buckingham University professor Anthony Glees suggested Putin will inevitably suffer from health issues.
He told GB News: “Putin is very unwell. It cannot be otherwise. Contrary to his own view of himself, he is a mortal like the rest of us.
“The big question, of course, is how unwell. I think it entirely plausible that he is seriously unwell, not just generally unwell.”
Glees, who refused to rubbish the prospect of Putin using body doubles and a number of drugs to conceal his health problems, also addressed Saturday’s suspected cardiac arrest incident which has since been disputed by the Kremlin.
“The difficulty here is that the denials are not to be trusted and the Russian authorities have always covered up the illnesses of their leaders, in Soviet times, for example, or even over Yeltsin's alcoholism,” he said.
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Spokesman Dimitry Peskov spoke out against the claims which circulated via Telegram channel General SVRGETTYHowever, the academic stressed Putin’s own desire to display a strong image comes with the Kremlin also having “every interest in projecting Putin as unchanging”.
Glees, who identified Parkinson’s disease and blood cancer as potential illnesses, concluded: “Even if his body is still functioning, his soul is rotten to the core and in the end that will finish him off.”
He labelled the claim as an “absurd hoax”, adding: “Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake.”
Russian President Vladimir PutinREUTERSPeskov continued: “This belongs to the category of absurd information hoaxes that a whole series of media discuss with enviable tenacity. This evokes nothing but a smile.”
Putin has also previously denied using body doubles.
However, recent Japanese AI analysis and various media reports have cast further doubts on whether Putin himself has been in attendance.
But the suspected body double is said to have suffered a facial malfunction.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Belt and Road Forum in BeijingREUTERSGeneral SVR wrote: "The fault is again with the double’s ‘floating’ cheekbones, which do not stay in place and move in different directions.
"The double initially had less expressive cheekbones, which, as a result of plastic surgery, were ‘enlarged’ and made similar to Putin’s cheekbones.
"But it was impossible to make sure they stayed stationary in the right places."
