Rumors of cancer surrounding Vladimir Putin have already increased. Reports of the Kremlin chief’s serious illness have been appearing regularly for years. A former CIA analyst has two guesses as to what might be behind the reports.
There have long been rumors that the Russian President is seriously ill. Does Putin have cancer? Parkinson’s? Experts see his gait or his bloated face as signs of this. There was no official confirmation from the Kremlin.
But now the rumors are getting fresh impetus: The ” New Lines Magazine ” reports on a tapped and recorded conversation of an oligarch. In it he says that Putin is “very ill” and “suffers from severe blood cancer.” And: “We all hope that Putin will die of cancer.” The unnamed oligarch is not a friend of the war that Putin started in Ukraine .
The magazine claims to have verified the speaker and matched his voice. However, the decision was made not to publish the name to protect it from the revenge of the Russian state.
Christo Grozev from the research team “Bellingcat” reports to “New Lines Magazine” about a memo from the Russian domestic secret service FSB to their own regional directors. One should not believe rumors about Putin’s serious illness, it says. However, Grozev continues to report: “But this memo only led to the fact that most FSB directors suddenly really believed that Putin was suffering from a serious illness.”
John Sipher, a former CIA analyst specializing in Russia, sees “no way” to confirm or deny such rumors from outside the Kremlin.
Sipher presented two theories to New Lines Magazine that could be responsible for the rumours: either the Kremlin is spreading the rumors itself to distract and confuse.
Or, according to Sipher: “For a long time, Putin was something like the mafia boss in the Kremlin, the judge between those fighting for money or influence. These clans are now positioning themselves to survive no matter how this crisis ends. Publicizing Putin’s health crisis, or inventing one, can be a way to gain leverage.”
So the blood cancer rumors add to the long list of diseases that Vladimir Putin is said to suffer from. In early May, there were reports that Putin would undergo surgery for cancer on May 10, the day after Russia’s national celebration of Victory Day over Nazi Germany. An interim president has also been appointed.
But Olaf Scholz called Putin on Friday. There does not seem to be an interim president. But rumors of an ill Putin have persisted since the early 2000s. Ultimately, however, Putin’s health remains one of the best-kept secrets in Moscow.
