Posted on Apr 24, 2022 at 12:25 p.m
Is the Russian President suffering from an illness? Speculations have increased since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
It is this April 21 picture that reignited rumors about Vladimir Putin’s health and, in particular, a possible Parkinson’s disease.
AFP
Health issues from heads of state have always been closely guarded state secrets. Vladimir Putin has been the center of attention since Russia invaded Ukraine. Especially since his April 21 appearance against his Defense Minister, Sergei Choïgou, in a video circulated on social networks.
Where are the invader’s splendid and haughty clothes? We see him clinging tightly to the table that separates the two men with his right hand. The one on the left is more mobile, sometimes he puts him on his leg, sometimes on the next table. Scowling, slumped in his chair, static, the Russian president paints an image that has sparked speculation.
Reality or Strategy?
Is Vladimir Putin sick? Reality or Strategy? Our colleagues at Le Parisien have taken stock of all these rumours, which were circulating well before the conflict but continue to swell in wartime. The Sun already mentioned it in November 2020. Thyroid Cancer, Parkinson’s, Paranoid Disorder? On BFMTV, Russian journalist Roman Badanin, a refugee in the US, asserts that the Kremlin tenant has been surrounded by a large crowd of doctors for five to seven years and that one of his “most regular guides” is a “thyroid cancer specialist”.
Russia denies
Russia has always denied any serious illness that might impair Vladimir Putin’s judgment. “Often we only discover things long afterwards in the archives,” explains Pierre Grosser, professor of the history of international relations at Sciences-po Paris, the Parisian. For Bruno Cabanes, a historian and professor at Ohio State University, “The war has spawned a plethora of false news and rumours, including health rumours. It is about showing the weakening of the opponent and giving meaning to the war itself, interpreting the violence as an expression of an individual pathology, that of the head of state.”
bridge information
A supposed illness could explain the outbreak of war in Ukraine, history professor Pierre Grosser explained to our French colleagues: “There are certainly several people working on the subject, all American and Western secret services must be on deck. Statements, photos and videos had been compiled for Saddam Hussein. Then we brought in psychologists, doctors, to find out what he could be suffering from physiologically and if it could have any psychological effects.
“A maneuver is not excluded”
No official statement from the Kremlin, so anything is possible. Even Vladimir Putin’s recent emergence in what is perceived as a worrying stance could be on the order of a well-oiled strategy, Prof warns. You need to deal with the Russian president quickly. It’s not out of the question.”