According to a US intelligence report, Russian President Vladimir Putin had treatment for terminal cancer in April and survived an assassination attempt a month earlier.
Putin’s health has been the subject of constant speculation and innuendo, with analysts scouring film of his every public appearance for signs of physical deterioration.
The Kremlin has denied any illness, while US officials have cautioned against wishful thinking.However, three senior intelligence officials have told Newsweek that the Biden administration is closely monitoring Putin’s health, and that a confidential assessment verifies claims of cancer treatment.
‘Putin’s grip is strong but no longer absolute,’ one of the senior intelligence officers said.
‘The jockeying inside the Kremlin has never been more intense during his rule, everyone sensing that the end is near.’
Putin’s health is worse than previously thought, according to sources from the Director of National Intelligence, the United States Air Force, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
As the conflict enters its fourth month, they claim that his physical exhaustion is matched by Russia’s own exhaustion.
Intelligence assessments also confirm an assassination attempt in March, according to officials. They did warn, though, that certain information sources had vanished since the war began, and that Putin’s isolation had made assessing his condition more difficult.
The DNI head stated, “What we know is that there is an iceberg out there, even if it is disguised by fog.”
According to the DIA source, Putin’s restrictions on dealing with outsiders have strangled information flow.
The Kremlin has denied the allegations numerous times.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, denied that Putin was unwell or dying on Sunday.
‘President Vladimir Putin appears in public every day,’ he told French television.
‘You can watch him on screens, read and listen to his performances. I don’t think that sane people can see signs of some kind of illness or poor health.’
Reports of Putin’s ill health, he continued, should be left “on the conscience of those who disseminate such stories.”
His comments came amid rumors that the Kremlin was repurposing old Putin footage for various meetings.
On May 29, an FSB official was quoted in the media as saying that Putin only has three years left to live, amid widespread worry about his health.
Former British spy Christopher Steele, who wrote a dossier on Donald Trump and alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, has also stated that Putin is ill.
‘Certainly, from what we’re hearing from sources in Russia and elsewhere, is that Putin is, in fact, quite seriously ill,’ he told Sky News recently. Meanwhile, Kremlin insiders told Israeli writer Mark Kotlyarsky that Putin had pancreatic cancer and may only have three months to live.
Mr Kotlyarsky wrote: ‘It is possible that in the event of a fatal outcome, the country will be headed by a special State Council.’
‘It is assumed that this body – as a transitional one – will govern Russia indefinitely in order to try to at least minimize the damage caused by the confrontation with Ukraine.
‘The war will certainly be stopped, the troops will be withdrawn.’
And earlier this week an FSB officer described the Russian president’s condition as a ‘severe form of rapidly progressing cancer’.
Fugitive Boris Karpichkov said Putin has ‘no more than two to three years left’ and is losing his sight.
Putin is also refusing to wear spectacles out of fear of seeming weak, and is lashing out at subordinates with ‘uncontrolled wrath,’ according to the report.