Putin’s health still shrouded in uncertainty
PARIS—Baths in blood extracted from the antlers of Siberian deer. Excrements scooped up by loyal officials to evade analysis. Mysterious absences for emergency medical treatment.
The claims made about the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be 70 in October, are lurid and macabre, as well as impossible to verify.
But they illustrate how little is known about the health of a leader whose medical condition is fundamental to the future of Europe, all the more so after he ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Over the course of Putin’s two decades in power, remarkably little has emerged about his health, beyond the famous images provided by the Kremlin showing him bare-chested in a bid to project an image of macho strength.
But scrutiny has now increased with the war that Putin unleashed against Russia’s neighbour.
The most in-depth investigation into Putin’s health was published in April by the Russian-language news site Proekt, which used open-source data to conclude that the president’s trips to the southern resort city of Sochi were synchronised with those of a large number of doctors. They included specialist in thyroid cancer Yevgeny Selivanov, whose visits to Sochi frequently coincided with Putin’s sudden absences from the public eye over the past years. It also alleged that one of the methods used by Putin to ensure longevity were baths in blood extracted from deer antlers in Siberia, a method recommended by his friend Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is from Siberia.