The President is very concerned about his health and takes baths with elk horn extract and travels to Sochi with a team of doctors.
Since Vladimir Putin took office as President, the Kremlin has been secretive about his health status. Initially, the absence of information went unnoticed, but as Putin started to periodically disappear from public view, many speculations arose (although without solid proof) that it could be related to his medical treatments. Meanwhile, Putin now has a substantial medical team accompanying him on all his travels. An investigation into the President’s health has been carried out by the publication “The Project”, and this is a summary of their findings.
The Kremlin deliberately built up Putin’s macho image.
The issue was Putin’s tendency to fall off horses. At the start of his presidency, Putin aimed to cultivate the image of a strong and energetic man, as noted by “Project”. During this time, according to a former government official who worked with Putin, the president rarely underwent medical check-ups and was casual about his physical health, such as ignoring high temperatures. The Kremlin, in order to maintain Putin’s macho image, chose not to reveal any negative information about his health to the public.
According to “Project”, Putin, who was an avid horse rider, faced several incidents of falling off horses during this time. One of Putin’s acquaintances mentioned that after one of the falls, Putin was unable to stand for a while and required a prolonged period of medical treatment.
In 2012, Putin was seen in public with a limp for the first time. This was during National Unity Day when he was laying flowers at the Minin and Pozharsky monument. According to “Project”, efforts were made to hide this from the public. The video of the event was not posted online and news agencies were forbidden from mentioning the President’s limp. By the end of the year, the limp had worsened, leading to all events involving Putin being limited to one hour.
The Kremlin then began using pre-recorded recordings, known as “conserves”, of Putin’s meetings with subordinates. This allowed the President to be absent from the public eye without arousing suspicion. According to “Project”, these disappearances became more frequent over time and were accompanied by health problems. The use of “conserves” has been reported at least since March 2015, August 2017, February 2018, and September 2021.
Putin has grown interested in alternative medicine despite having several medical professionals in his family.
According to the publication, with information from a Putin acquaintance, the president takes pine bathtubs, which were recommended to him by Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, though their effectiveness is unproven. Putin’s interest in alternative methods of preserving youth has led to their popularity among other high-ranking officials, says the Project.
The Project finds it strange that Putin, with a daughter who graduated from Moscow State University’s medical faculty, a cousin who worked as a children’s surgeon, a wife who is a gynecologist, and children who have studied psychiatry, would take an interest in unscientific medicine. Putin’s second cousin, Tatyana Ptashuk, who holds a medical degree, is now the Deputy Head of the Central Clinical Hospital where high-ranking Russian officials receive treatment.
The “Project” reports that Putin travels with a team of doctors, which has grown from five to nine over time.
Over the years, Putin began to visit the Central Clinical Hospital in the Kuncevo district of Moscow more often — according to one of the sources of “Project”, there is an “observation unit of personal doctors” there. The same medics accompany Putin on trips and fly with him to his residences. “Project” studied the contracts and service acceptance acts published on the procurement website between the Central Clinical Hospital and hotels in Sochi — the dates of the medics’ flights coincided with Putin’s official visits or with periods when he did not appear in public.
After examining the contracts, journalists from the “Project” came to the conclusion that in 2016-2017, the president was on average accompanied by five doctors, however, sometimes the number of medics “dramatically” increased. Thus, in November 2016 Putin did not appear in public for five days – and during this period, 12 medics settled in the Sochi sanatorium “Rus”. First, a group of Putin’s personal doctors arrived, followed by a group of operating neurosurgeons from the Central Clinical Hospital and a rehabilitation specialist. “The treatment obviously went well – on December 1, Putin already addressed the Federal Assembly. A year later, the President awarded [the head of the neurosurgery group Oleg Myshkin] the title of Honored Doctor of Russia”, – writes the “Project”.
According to “The Project,” in 2019 Putin was typically accompanied by nine doctors. The most frequently seen with him were otolaryngologists Alexey Shcheglov, Igor Eskakov, and surgeon Evgeny Selivanov. The publication highlights that Selivanov was previously an oncologist who dealt with thyroid issues. An otolaryngologist, as stated by the “Project,” is a doctor who can detect thyroid problems, including cancer, among other things. The publication also mentions that Putin has publicly shown concern about the issue of thyroid cancer.
There has been growing speculation about Putin’s health since autumn of 2021, when he unexpectedly went into self-isolation.
According to a source from the “Project,” a close associate of the management of one of the major hospitals, there are indeed “talks about the president’s health problems” in medical circles. According to him, these conversations increased in the fall of 2021, when the president, after a long period of isolation due to COVID-19, began to hold public events again. During a meeting with Paralympians on September 13th, he unexpectedly announced that he had to go into isolation because too many people around him were sick with coronavirus. According to the “Project,” this news was even a “surprise” to the president’s entourage.
After that, Putin did not appear in public throughout September. However, it is unknown whether any medical procedures were performed on him at that time, according to the “Project.” As the publication notes, after that, the president began to communicate with people while being very far away from them — usually on opposite sides of large tables.
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