According to a US intelligence report, Russian President Vladimir Putin was treated for advanced cancer in April and survived an assassination attempt a month earlier.
Putin’s health has been the source of endless rumors and speculation, while analysts scoured footage of each of his public appearances for evidence of physical deterioration.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied ill health and US officials have also warned against wishful thinking.
But now three senior intelligence officials have told Newsweek that Putin’s health is the subject of intense scrutiny by the Biden administration and that a classified report confirms reports of cancer treatments.
“Putin’s grip is strong, but no longer absolute,” said one of the senior intelligence officers.
“The scramble in the Kremlin has never been so intense during his rule, everyone felt that the end was near.”
The sources – from the director of National Intelligence, the US Air Force and the Defense Intelligence Agency – agree that Putin’s health condition is more serious than previously thought.
They said his physical exhaustion has been surpassed by Russia’s own exhaustion as the conflict enters its fourth month.
Analysts have been poring over images like this, trying to gauge Vladimir Putin’s health. His bloated face has sparked speculation that he is ill
Three intelligence sources said Putin’s health was consistent with his country’s own exhaustion from the war in Ukraine. Smoke rises here in the city of Severodonetsk during fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the eastern Donbass region
A man walks next to badly damaged buildings and destroyed cars after Russian attacks in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine
And intelligence reports also confirm that an assassination attempt took place in March, officials say.
However, they warned that since the war began, some intelligence sources have evaporated and that Putin’s isolation has made his condition more difficult to assess.
“What we do know is that there is an iceberg out there, albeit one covered in fog,” the DNI leader said.
Meanwhile, the DIA official said Putin’s reduction in meetings with outsiders also stifled information.
“Putin has had few meetings with foreign leaders,” the source said.
“Putin’s isolation has thus increased speculation.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied this speculation.
On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that Putin was ill or dying.
“President Vladimir Putin appears in public every day,” he told French television.
“You can see him on screens, read and listen to his performances. I don’t think sane people can see signs of illness or ill health.’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the fact that viewers could see Putin on the screens and read his speeches disproved any notion that the Russian leader was unwell
He added that reports of Putin’s poor health “should rest on the conscience of those spreading such rumours”.
His statements come amid reports that the Kremlin was reusing old footage of Putin for multiple meetings.
An FSB official was quoted in the media on May 29 as warning that Putin had just three years to live amid speculation about his health.
And former British spy Christopher Steele, who wrote a dossier on Donald Trump and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, has also suggested that Putin is in poor health.
“From what we are hearing from sources in Russia and elsewhere, Putin is actually quite seriously ill,” he recently told Sky News.
But he admitted it was unclear what made him ill.
“It’s not exactly clear what this disease is – whether it’s incurable or incurable or whatever. But I think it’s certainly part of the equation,” he added.
A former Soviet spy has claimed Putin has Parkinson’s disease, while research website Proekt said the Russian leader has thyroid cancer.
Heavy fighting is ongoing in the eastern Donbass region, but fighting is also taking place west of Kherson in the wake of Ukraine’s counterattacks
One source of intrigue is Putin’s April 21 meeting with his defense minister.
Putin grabbed the table with his right hand as soon as he sat down and held it throughout the meeting.
Some observers thought it was an indication of Parkinson’s disease, while others thought it was simply his old KGB weapons training and he was ready to reach for a gun.
“Someone who was once seen as omnipotent is now seen primarily as a fighter with the future, especially his own,” said the DNI leader.
Top Russian officials are said to be planning a government without Putin after Kremlin sources claimed the Russian president had alienated almost everyone during the invasion of Ukraine.
A government source told Russian-Latvian broadcaster Meduza last week that among Kremlin officials and Russian elites “there are almost no people happy with Putin.”
“Business people and many government officials are unhappy that the president started the war without thinking about the magnitude of the sanctions – it’s impossible to live with such sanctions,” the source said – a sentiment later confirmed by two other government insiders became .