Vladimir Putin is “increasingly ill” and is “constantly accompanied” by a team of doctors, former British spy Christopher Steele has claimed.
Mr Steele, who wrote a dossier on Donald Trump and Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 US elections, had earlier stated that the Russian leader was “quite seriously ill”, although the “exact details” of what ailed him are not known.
Mr Steele’s comments have been attributed to LBC Radio.
“Meetings of the security council that are shown to supposedly last for a whole hour are actually broken up into several sections… he goes out and receives some kind of medical treatment between those sections,” he said.
“And so clearly he is seriously ill, I mean how terminal or incurable it is is not clear… we can’t be entirely sure. But it’s certainly having a very serious impact on the governance of Russia at the moment,” Mr Steele further said.
LBC Radio quoted Mr Steele as saying that Mr Putin is trying to avoid showing weakness in the Kremlin, which he described it as “a bit like a shark pool”.
The ex-spy also said it is unlikely Putin will withdraw from Ukraine, out of fears for his own safety.
Over the past few months, many have raised questions regarding Putin’s health, as both his appearance and behaviour at some public events leave people questioning whether he is severely ill.
During a televised meeting in the Kremlin earlier this month, Putin was filmed retching and spluttering.
His face and body also look bloated and he has been filmed gripping the table during state talks, fidgeting and shaking uncontrollably during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
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