As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reaches the three-month mark, rumors of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failing health continue to spread, including a claim by an officer of the Russian Federation’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — the main successor to the U.S.S.R.’s KGB — that Putin has, at most, three years left to live.
“He has no more than two to three years to stay alive,” the FSB spy told The Mirror, adding that the 69-year-old leader is also losing his sight due to “a severe form of rapidly progressing cancer.”
“We are told he is suffering from headaches and when he appears on TV he needs pieces of paper with everything written in huge letters to read what he’s going to say,” the officer revealed. “They are so big each page can only hold a couple of sentences. His eyesight is seriously worsening.”
What’s more, said the spy, “his limbs are now also shaking uncontrollably.”
Footage of Putin apparently twitching awkwardly resurfaced recently, sparking speculation that the leader is suffering from Parkinson’s and MS in addition to cancer.
Ukraine’s Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Kyrylo Budanov said, “He has several serious illnesses, one of which is cancer.”
According to a secret message from the Russian spy to FSB defector Boris Karpichkov, who, The Mirror reports, is currently dodging Putin’s assassins in Britain, Putin’s drastic mood swings are terrifying his staff and, despite still needing to squint at the large lettering, he “won’t wear glasses to help because that would be a sign of weakness.”
“He used to be composed with subordinates but now he has outbursts of uncontrolled fury,” the spy continued. “He has gone completely nuts and trusts almost no one.”
Kremlin sources said last week that Putin underwent successful cancer surgery two weeks ago and according to former MI6 Russia desk officer Christopher Steele — yes, that Christopher Steele of the infamous Steele dossier — the leader is always surrounded by doctors and must take breaks during meetings for treatment.
“He’s constantly accompanied around the place by a team of doctors,” Steele said.
Ukraine says Vladimir Putin survived an attempt on his life shortly after invasion https://t.co/tNiSJznTre
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 23, 2022
Things have reportedly progressed to the point that successors are actively being discussed and control of the handover is being sought by those closest to the ailing leader.
“The Kremlin is a bit like a shark pool,” Steele said. “They all swim round and if they smell blood in the water they start fighting.”
Leading the pack of possible successors is Aleksey Dyumin, 49. The governor of the Tula region near Moscow, Dyumin once led the presidential bodyguard and claimed to save Putin from a bear, according to The Mirror.
Astrakhan governor and former spy Igor Babushkin, 52, and Agriculture minister Dmitry Patrushev, 44, — son of Putin friend and head of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev — round out the short list of contenders.
As BizPac Review reported, Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, recently predicted on a podcast that Putin wouldn’t make it as the leader of the Russian Federation beyond 2023.
“I’m really going to stick my neck out,” Dearlove said. “I think he’ll be gone by 2023. Probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as leader of Russia.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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