In recent videos and photographs, the Russian strongman appears frail and fidgety with tremors in his hand. This has once again stoked rumours that he is possibly suffering from Parkinson’s Disease
Russian president Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Sunday. Footage of him biting his lips and appearing unsteady has sparked rumours about his health. AP
Russia’s Vladimir Putin is the most infamous politician of today’s time. As the war in Ukraine rages on, there has been a lot of focus on the president, his wealth, and now his health.
A video reportedly from a midnight mass for Orthodox Easter, celebrated last Sunday, has emerged in which Putin looked frail, stoking rumours of his deteriorating health.
He chewed his lips and appeared shaky as he stood next to Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in the capital. He appeared nervous and fidgety during the service and chewed the inside of his mouth. However, some reports suggested that he wasn’t even there and that the video was doctored by the Kremlin.
A dry mouth can be a symptom of Parkinson’s Disease, a condition that the Kremlin was forced to deny Putin was suffering from last year, reports Daily Mail.
During the service, when Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, declared “Christ has risen”, Putin did not join in with the other members of the congregation to reply “truly he is risen”, according to Reuters.
Photographs and videos of a nervy Putin are a sharp contrast to the “macho” image that the 69-year-old leader has been portraying during his 22 years in power. There’s increased speculation that the setback that Russian forces are suffering in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine is impacting Putin’s health.
It’s not the only evidence of the strongman appearing underconfident and ill.
Putin’s face appeared puffy at an awards ceremony for Russian Olympians held recently. He looked noticeably bloated as he posed for photographs at the event with figure skater Kamila Valieva, whose campaign at the Winter Games was overshadowed by a doping controversy, reports New York Post.
The “Putin is sick” theories have been doing rounds for a while now.
Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves after delivering a speech during an award ceremony for the Russian Olympic medalists at the Kremlin in Moscow. Reports suggest that he looked bloated at the event. AP
Does Putin have Parkinson’s Disease?
Another video released by the Kremlin earlier in the week showed the president tightly gripping the table with his hand as he is sitting down. Putin sits with hunched shoulders and regularly fidgets and taps his toes during a meeting with his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to discuss the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol during the nearly 12-minute video, according to the New York Post.
“Putin’s meeting with Shoigu today shows both depressed & seemingly in bad health,” tweeted Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist who was previously an adviser to Russia.
The defence minister also is reportedly suffering from health-related complications.
Former UK politician and novelist Louise Mensch said the footage appeared to back earlier reports that “Vladimir Putin has Parkinson’s disease.” “Here you can see him gripping the table so that his shaking hand is not visible but he cannot stop his foot from tapping,” she wrote.
Another video, which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, shows Putin meeting with his ally and Berulisian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. He is seen holding up his hand, which appears to be shaking until he presses it against his chest. He then walks quickly toward Lukashenko before greeting and embracing him.
“I am persuaded by a lot of medical advice that he is an ill man and the most persuasive diagnosis is that he has early Parkinsonia,” former government defence and NATO adviser Professor Gwythian Prins said on the show Good Morning Britain over the weekend.
The United States has refused to comment on Putin’s health. A reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki at a briefing Monday about the speculations, and she said that she does not have “any assessment to offer from here or any particular comment” on it.
Or is it just age catching up?
While all of this is conjecture, it’s clear that Putin is ageing fast. Amid the hundreds of companies that pulled out of Russia in wake of the war, was US drugmaker AbbVie, the owners of wrinkle treatment Botox.
This sanction, media reports suggested, would personally affect the leader who is rumoured to have used Botox treatment. Speaking to the Australian news agency, news.com.au, one of the country’s leading aesthetic doctors, Dr Jake Sloane, had said in March that the Russian president used too much filler in his cheekbones. Botox, cheek fillers and a chin and eye lift have been used by Putin and these rumours circulate claiming that the Russian leader uses these treatments to boost his strongman image.
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The Kremlin has always been secretive about its leader. And it’s hard to guess if the Russian president is ailing. But one thing is certain all’s not well with him.
With inputs from agencies
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