Russian President Vladimir Putin received treatment for advanced cancer in April, three US intelligence officials told Newsweek.
Amid ongoing speculation about the health of the 69-year-old Russian leader, an assessment by the Intelligence Service in Washington said he was recovering from cancer treatment he had undergone two months ago, Newsweek reported.
An intelligence report also confirms a plot to assassinate Putin in March, the organization said.
Senior officials – one from the office of the director of national intelligence, a retired senior Air Force officer and one from the Defense Intelligence Agency – who saw the secret report told Newsweek that they feared Putin’s paranoia about staying in power could make things worse for Ukraine.
But that could also deter him from starting a nuclear war.
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“Putin’s grip is strong, but it is no longer absolute,” said one senior intelligence officer. “Jockey in the Kremlin has never been more intense during his rule, everyone felt that the end was near.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently addressed widespread rumors that Putin was suffering from cancer.
In response to the French television operator TF1, Mr. Lavrov said: “I do not think that healthy people can see in this person signs of any disease or illness.
He went on to say that Mr Putin, who turns 70 in October, appears in public “every day” before adding: “
“I leave it to the conscience of those who spread such rumors.”
In the last few months, rumors have been circulating that Putin is suffering from cancer or is in poor health, as photos of him have appeared in a weakened state. One image shows him holding a conference table with his right hand as he reclines in a chair.
An unnamed oligarch was recently reported as saying that the 69-year-old Russian president was “very ill with blood cancer”, according to New Lines magazine.
It is widely reported that the FSB, Russia’s state intelligence agency, has been told not to speculate on the leader’s health – something that has the opposite effect and has thrown rumors into the ranks, according to Russia’s investigative publication Project.
Other intelligence sources quoted in Western reports suggest he may now be ill. The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Major General Kirilo Budanov, said on television that Putin had cancer “and other diseases” and was in “very poor psychological and physical condition.”
Ashley Grossman, a professor of endocrinology at Oxford University, told New Lines that Putin had developed a “cushingoid” appearance that was “compatible with steroids.”
He stressed that steroids could be prescribed for some forms of blood cancer, and that a high dose of steroids would make a person more susceptible to Covid-19 infection, after reports that Putin was very cautious about contracting the disease. for several years.
However, no clear and indisputable evidence has been presented of any specific allegations about Mr Putin’s health.
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