There have long been rumors that the Russian President is seriously ill. Does Putin have cancer? Parkinson’s? The report of a suspected Russian spy now causes further excitement.
Rumors of illness surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to persist. The alleged report by a Russian spy is currently causing a stir. He is said to have issued a death prognosis in a secret letter to the former KGB and double agent Boris Karpichkov, who is now in Great Britain. The British “Mirror” reported on Saturday.
According to this, doctors only give the Russian President “two to three years to live”. The Russian agent is quoted as saying that he was suffering from a “severe form of rapidly progressing cancer”.
The disease also means that Putin’s eyesight continues to deteriorate. Literally: “We are told he suffers from a headache and when he appears on television he needs slips of paper with everything written in large letters […]. They are so big that only a few sentences fit on one page. His eyesight has deteriorated badly.”
Again and again, recordings of the Russian President cause speculation. He often looks wobbly. In addition to cancer rumors, there are also speculations about a possible Parkinson’s disease. “His limbs are now shaking uncontrollably,” the secret agent is quoted as saying.
Incidentally, the secret agent would not be alone with his suspicions. 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.”
The Kremlin did not comment on the rumors of illness for a long time. Only recently did Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov break the silence. “I don’t think that reasonable people can see signs of any kind of illness or infirmity in this person,” he said in response to a journalist’s question on Sunday.
Putin, who has been in control of Russia’s fortunes for more than two decades, ordered a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. Thousands of people have been killed since then and millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee. The West imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia.
