Russian president Vladimir Putin canceled his annual end-of-year press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced. The cancellation of the event—the first time in 10 years—has led to rumors that Vladimir Putin may be suffering from ill health.
Read more: Russia jailing, beating its own soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine: Report
Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin hopes that Vladimir Putin “will still find an opportunity” to speak with the press soon but no media event will take place in December Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.
Vladimir Putin scrapped the conference as there is a growing sense that Russia’s war in Ukraine is going poorly, The Sun reported adding that the Russian leader may be suffering from at least one undisclosed ailment.
Read more: BTS member Jin goes to frontline boot camp for military duty: 6 points
Rumors about Vladimir Putin’s health have intensified since Russia’s late-February invasion of Ukraine. Some reports earlier cited videos of the Russian president appearing shaky or tense as evidence that he might have Parkinson’s disease, though some medical experts have disputed the claimed.
In April, an report claimed Vladimir Putin was accompanied by doctors—including a thyroid cancer surgeon—on trips from 2016 to 2019. The report also said Vladimir Putin may have undergone surgery several years ago, but it did not directly say whether he was diagnosed with cancer or any other illness.
Read more: North Korea ‘ready’ to test a nuclear weapon, claims South Korean prime minister
Lawrence C. Reardon, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, told Newsweek, “No doubt the health divisions of the world’s intelligence agencies have been investigating similar tells and rumors. Perhaps early knowledge of any sickness was the reason why Putin staged several of his shirtless vacation episodes riding horses and handling weapons to prove not only that he was youthful, powerful, but also healthy.”
“This was very strange behavior for any world leader and was the topic of ridicule by other G-7 leaders this past February. Perhaps their jocularity implied that they knew more about Putin’s health condition. All speculation, but such behavior was very strange for Putin and the world leaders,” he added.
