The rumor that Vladimir Putin is deathly ill has persisted for more than a year – despite no hard evidence that the Russian president is on death’s doorstep.
The rumors have fueled speculation, forensic video analysis, and various wartime propaganda.
And now, Putin’s health has cropped up amidst last month’s US classified info leak.
“A document among the trove of leaked classified materials offers the latest example of the fascination with Mr. Putin’s health,” The New York Times reported. “It describes a conversation between two Ukrainian officials about what one claimed was a conspiracy among Mr. Putin’s internal opponents to challenge his rule at a moment when he was said to be undergoing chemotherapy.”
Again, no evidence exists to substantiate the Ukrainian’s claims, and the US has not indicated whether they believe the claims are credible.
Actually, the consensus within the US intelligence community is that Putin is fine. Even the director of the C.I.A. dismissed the rumors about Putin’s health.
Rumors about Putin’s health are “unsurprising”
“Analysts called the public discussion of Mr. Putin’s well-being unsurprising,” The Times reported. “It is a predictable byproduct of the aura of mystery around powerful autocrats who keep their distance from observers and their personal lives well concealed” said former C.I.A. official John Sipher.
Putin is not the first autocratic leaders to inspire rumors about his health.
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un was recently the subject of rumors that suggested he was either seriously ill, or perhaps dead.
And China’s Xi Jinping faced similar rumors when he suspended travel abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither rumor was ever substantiated and both leaders appear to be in fine health.
“I’ve never put much stock in health talk,” Sipher told The Times. “We’ve heard the same stuff for years. I just think that it’s always a discussion point in closed societies where they hide and lie about everything.”
Similarly, the rumors about Putin’s health specifically, have failed to convince expert Russia observers. “I’m deeply skeptical that Putin has some health problems likely to lead to his imminent death or incapacitation,” Professor Mark Galeotti, director of a consultancy firm focused on Russia, told Newsweek. “There is a great deal of rumor, propaganda, and wishful thinking in play.”
Putin health rumors have been especially elaborate
The Putin health rumors have run rampant – in all likelihood corresponding with Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Many of the rumors began cropping up right around the time Russia crossed Ukraine’s border. The timing is hardly a coincidence. In March 2022, for example, barely a month into the conflict, British tabloid The Daily Star reported that Putin was dying in “agony” of terminal cancer. The report cited an anonymous Pentagon source.
The cancer rumor was especially widespread. In June 2022, three US intelligence officials said that Putin had undergone cancer treatment; New Lines magazine reported in May 2022 that Putin was “very ill with blood cancer.”; in May 2022 a British intelligence official claimed that Putin had ended a security council meeting to receive “some kind of medical treatment.”
But Putin illness claims are based primarily on analysis of the Russian leader during press conferences and speeches – not a very credible source. Although Putin is 70 now, the idea that he is truly sick seems more like wishful thinking than credible intelligence.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
