According to a defence and security analyst, Vladimir Putin ‘hits the Botox rather hard’ and appears to be ‘trying to embalm himself while he’s still alive.’
While there is “no persuasive proof” that Russian President Vladimir Putin is critically unwell, he is continuously surrounded by “a small team of medics,” according to Professor Michael Clarke, a King’s College London war studies scholar.
During a Sky News Q&A, he was asked about Putin’s health, amid claims that the Kremlin leader’s swollen face and wobbly demeanor at meetings, where he has been observed trembling or grasping the table in apparent distress, has sparked speculation.
Professor Clarke said of the tyrant: ‘On October 7, he will be 70. He is known to hit the Botox quite heavily.
‘I always say that he is trying to embalm himself while he’s still alive – he does take a lot of Botox.
‘He moves around with doctors. There’s known to be a little team of doctors who are never far away, and it’s said that he leaves meetings at frequent intervals to go and consult with somebody.
‘I suspect that he’s only a hypochondriac, to be honest.’
Since his decision to unleash his disastrous invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Putin’s health has been the subject of considerable gossip and speculation.
Unconfirmed claims indicate the 69-year-old is suffering from cancer, with an FSB officer claiming he had ‘no more than two to three years to live’.
After falling ill after a phone discussion with military chiefs, Putin was claimed to require ‘immediate medical help.’
During the Victory Day procession in Moscow’s Red Square in May, he was seen wheezing and huddling under a large blanket.
Footage from a meeting with Belarusian President and close ally Alexander Lukashenko in February also showed him shaking excessively, fueling speculation that he had Parkinson’s disease.
According to some accounts, the tyrant may already be deploying body doubles to hide his ailing health.
‘Has he got cancer, has he got pancreatic cancer, has he got Parkinson’s disease?’ Professor Clarke continued.
‘When you see him in these clips that we’re seeing more of now that Covid is over and he’s coming out of the shadows, where he’s been for over two years, and he’s making it apparent he’s in charge, he looks fine.
‘I’ve spoken to a number of people who have said you cannot detect Parkinson’s disease from the way he walks, you cannot detect symptoms of cancer just by looking at the photographs.
And what if he is secretly ill? Professor Clarke suggested it ‘would be one way out for Russia’.
But even if Putin stood down, he would likely be replaced by national security chief Nikolai Patrushev, ‘who is every bit as nasty’.
He added: ‘But at least it would be a change of face, which the West might be able to do something with.’