Putin has cancer doctor, blood baths
Vladimir Putin was visited by a thyroid cancer doctor 35 times at his Black Sea retreat and takes steroids, according to documents revealing the Russian president’s health.
Putin had Yevgeny Selivanov, a Moscow specialist in thyroid cancer for the “elderly and senile”, flown out repeatedly to his residence in Sochi for a total of 166 days over four years.
Putin has also taken to bathing in blood extracted from severed deer antlers as an alternative therapy, according to a report exposing his poor health as the Kremlin’s “main secret”.
Treatment for thyroid cancer usually involves steroids, which according to charities can trigger anxiety, hallucinations and even cause the patient to “imagine things that aren’t real”.
Steroids can also cause swelling, including a condition known as “moon-face”. Putin’s bloated appearance has previously led to whispers of plastic surgery.
The Kremlin denies Putin, 69, has or has had cancer.
But Proekt, a banned Russian investigative news organisation, revealed that Putin, who disappeared from public view for a month in September and now holds most of his interactions at one end of a long table, has a retinue of medical staff travelling with him. It said Putin secretly underwent surgery last autumn and it is believed he was undergoing a complicated procedure related to some kind of thyroid disease. Proekt uncovered the details by examining government procurement documents, showing which doctors stayed in four hotels near Putin’s residence between 2016 and 2020, when he was either visiting the city or had disappeared from public view.
“The president was regularly accompanied to Sochi by an average of five doctors,” said the report.
The report claims that Putin also bathes in deer antler blood as an alternative therapy, whose claimed benefits include “male potency”.