Ukraine Says ‘Putin Will Die Soon’: What Does That Mean?

“Putin Die Soon” says Ukraine President Zelensky: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on March 27 predicted the physical demise of his enemy in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also intimated that the death of the former KGB lieutenant colonel would mean the conclusion of the more than three-year war that began with Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“He will die soon, and that’s a fact, and it will come to end,” declared the Ukrainian leader. The question immediately raised by Zelensky’s statement was whether he knows something that most of the rest of the world does not regarding the Russian leader’s physical and/or mental health.

Another query is whether he has knowledge of a plot to eliminate the Russian leader—either by persons inside the Moscow elite or an assassination squad sent by Ukraine.

Putin to Be Killed? Let’s Talk About Ukraine First…

Zelensky is no stranger to assassination attempts. The initial invasion force launched against Ukraine in February 2022 included a group of more than 400 Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group. They were reported to have been in Kyiv in February 2022 with orders to kill Zelensky as part of a “decapitation strategy,” so that a pro-Moscow stooge could be installed in his place.

That operation failed, as did later attempts on his life. Zelensky later revealed some details.

“There were people who wanted to kill (me), there were gunshots, and more. Some people were killed here, inside the Presidential Office, others were defending us,” Zelensky stated in an interview with The Guardian. Other attempts, including one while he was on a visit to the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine, have occurred at almost regular intervals since the war began.

The irony of all the Russian efforts to eliminate Zelensky might be that Putin himself has reportedly been a frequent target. Numbers vary, but one lengthy article on the subject claims a total of 43 plots to kill the Russian dictator since he first became president in 2000.

Some of these stories are quite fanciful. In 2002, Putin was reportedly to have been killed with some poisoned jam that was to be served to him at a breakfast he had scheduled at a hotel in Yalta. Later that same year, during a parade in Red Square, another purported plan would have had him executed by a team of snipers, but the Federal Protective Service learned of the plot in time to prevent it being carried out.

The Leader’s Health Conspiracy Theory Mill

For those who are not familiar with the Russian way of life, the nation in general and the capital, Moscow, in particular are home to more conspiracy theories than any meeting of Area 51 enthusiasts.

That conspiratorial culture has since 2005—the year that Putin was said to have suffered a stroke—produced one scenario after another projecting his imminent demise. For two decades since there have been no shortages of reports that Putin is days or weeks away from death.

Over the years, the former KGB agent has been rumored to be on death’s doorstep from a list of almost every variety of cancer, various other terminal diseases, complications from surgery, and untreatable symptoms from a stroke.

Other rumors go so far as to state he is, in fact, dead, and that a carpenter from Belarus, who is known by the nickname of “Vasilyevich,” is the Russian leader’s body double and has secretly replaced him.

Looking Deeper Into Putin Death Rumors

But the suspicions that Putin has some serious health issues are not all completely unjustified or lacking some circumstantial evidence. In more recent years, his official appearances have shown him to have trembling legs, or even constantly and apparently involuntarily convulsing legs or hands, as if he suffers from a serious nervous-system disorder.

Other unexplained anomalies seen in public include a puffy face, bloodshot eyes, and a bruise on the back of his left hand. Another set of theories point to a supposed surgical scar on his neck that could be a sign of thyroid-cancer treatment. Rounding out the list are reports of Putin having a persistent cough and an inability to control his hands and feet in certain settings.

Vladimir Putin. Image Credit: Russian Government.

What could explain all these anomalies, said a Ukraine-based intelligence analyst, is that what we are all seeing is just “a clever program of psychological warfare. Making the world believe that Putin is terminally ill has certain advantages. At the same time, Zelensky making cryptic remarks about the Russian president not being long for this world has others. Sooner or later, we may all know the real truth.”

About the Author: 

Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design.  Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.