Vladimir Putin will travel to Alaska for a historic summit with Donald Trump amid a growing maelstrom of theories about his health.
According to his enemies and hints from Western intelligence services, Putin, 72, is suffering from conditions as minor as restless leg syndrome, or as serious as cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
His changing appearance has given rise to suggestions that he is being treated with steroids to boost his immune system, and there have been reports of subsequent ‘roid rages’.
Other theories abound.
There is some evidence, although circumstantial, that he has used body doubles, and claims that he has taken to an old Russian practice of bathing in deer antler blood to extend his life.
If time is dwindling, it may partly explain Putin’s apparent determination to keep fighting in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has dismissed all suggestions that the Russian leader is ill as ‘hoaxes’.
Still, here are eight possible indicators that he is suffering from a secret condition.
A frontal view of Putin’s face at a ceremony in 2024
1. Jelly legs
In November, Putin displayed some bizarre jerky leg movements on a trip to Astana, Kazakhstan.
As he spoke at a press conference, he gripped the lectern in front of him as his legs twitched, seemingly uncontrollably.
The twitching started with his left foot, and he appeared to take a wider stance to steady himself.
Then, both knees started wobbling side to side, and he put his left leg forward before it started jerking up and down.
When shown the video, Dr Bob Berookhim, a urologist in New York, told the Daily Mail several culprits could be at play.
‘There are a few different things that could lead to movements like this, including Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions,’ he said.
‘Based on just a few images and videos that are curated by Russia, it is hard to say what someone is dealing with here, but there may be something more significant going on with him that would tie everything together.’
Pressed on whether it could indicate Parkinson’s, he said, ‘It wouldn’t be an isolated thing like that, it would usually be more related to ongoing treatment for that kind of jelly leg movement – a one off means much less.’
The ‘jelly legs’ incident came a month after Putin was seen repeatedly rubbing and scratching his face and neck during an appearance at a fencing center in the city of Ufa.
There was similar itching and scratching the previous day in Moscow.
2. Puffy face
Putin has, on several occasions in recent years, displayed distinctly puffy facial features.
Notably, in November 2023, his face appeared much fuller, leading a senior Ukrainian official to ask, ‘What’s up with Putin’s cheeks?’
Bloating around the face and neck can be a sign that someone is being treated with steroids.
Putin appears fuller around the face and neck during an inauguration ceremony in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, on May 7, 2024
‘This puffy face could be the look of someone who gets steroid treatments, which could be for a variety of reasons, whether inflammatory conditions, or pain, or part of a treatment for something more significant that could cause him to take on this appearance,’ said Dr Berookhim. ‘It could also be weight gain.
‘For someone his age, steroid treatment could be needed as part of a cancer therapy. Some patients with chronic pain will also use steroids sometimes.’
Some doctors have said it could be allergies or a sinus or tooth infection.
Others suggested Putin was receiving Botox injections.
Being treated with steroids can add to a patient’s risk of infection, including coughs and colds, and they can suffer changes to their mood and behavior.
One cancer charity has warned that, ‘when taken in higher doses, steroids can cause confusion or changes in thinking. This can include having strange or frightening thoughts.’
Adding to the theory of steroid use, two weeks before Putin invaded Ukraine, he met with French president Emmanuel Macron.
An aide to Macron said Putin seemed ‘different’ and had ‘gone haywire’.
Putin’s face appears much thinner as he travels in an armored train in 2012
3. Alleged meetings with cancer doctors
The theory that Putin has been treated by cancer specialists stems mainly from a 2022 report by the Russian investigative outlet Proekt, which looked at trips the Russian president took to his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
By cross-referencing the dates with bookings at nearby hotels, it reported that an oncology surgeon specializing in thyroid cancer had visited 35 times and spent 166 days there.
Two ear, nose and throat specialists were there even more often, according to the report.
Typically, specialists diagnose thyroid problems before an oncologist is called in.
In 2019 Putin was said to have had an average of nine doctors with him, including and intensive care specialist, an anesthetist and a neurosurgeon.
The Kremlin dismissed the report as ‘fiction and untruth’.
Vladimir Putin speaks during a concert marking the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, on March 18, 2022, in Moscow
Then, in 2022, an unverified recording emerged of what was said to be a Russian oligarch, who was secretly recorded saying Putin was ‘very ill with blood cancer’.
The recording also suggested he had undergone back surgery in 2022.
4. Western intelligence hints
In February 2022 Marco Rubio, then a senator, dropped a heavy hint there may be something wrong with Putin.
At the time, Rubio was part of the ‘Gang of Eight’ members of Congress with access to extremely sensitive classified intelligence.
He said, Putin ‘appears to have some neurophysiological health issues.’
‘I wish I could share more, but for now, I can say it’s pretty obvious to many that something is off with Putin,’ he said at the time. ‘He has always been a killer, but his problem now is different and significant.
‘But most telling is this is a man who has long prided himself on emotional control. His recent flashes of anger is very uncharacteristic and show an erosion in impulse control.’
In June of that year, Biden national security officials leaked information suggesting that Putin had recently undergone cancer treatment.
‘There has been an identifiable change in his decision-making over the past five years or so,’ a Kremlin security official told the Daily Mail at the time.
‘Those around him see a marked change in the cogency and clarity of what he says and how he perceives the world around him.’
5. ‘Bathing in reindeer blood’
Unconfirmed reports have emerged that Putin took up the practice of bathing in blood taken from reindeer antlers.
He was said to have been introduced to the practice by his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.
Putin with reindeer during a holiday in the Tyva region in 2013
Putin would not be the first Russian to adopt the practice of bathing in – or drinking – deer blood.
It is believed to have benefits for the cardiovascular system and skin.
Reindeer farms in Siberia make ‘antler broth’ for bathing, and also sell antler blood in pill form, creams and alcoholic beverages.
When asked whether bathing in deer’s blood could boost health, one radiologist told the Daily Mail, ‘Nope, no comment, but that seems absurd to me.’
6. Body double claims
In March 2025 claims spread that Putin had sent a doppelganger on a visit to the front line in the Kursk region.
Photographs from the event showed him with a noticeably thinner body and face.
It was also noticeable that he used handwritten notes, rather than Putin’s usual printed ones, and they were smaller than the president’s normal large type.
Japanese AI researchers have claimed there are two regular doubles used by Putin.
They analyzed his speeches to see if the voices matched each other, and used facial recognition technology.
It was found that there was only a 53 percent facial similarity between the Putin at a Red Square parade in May 2023, and the Putin pictured on the Crimean Bridge in December 2022.
The Putin at the 2023 parade showed only a 40 percent match to the Putin who visited Mariupol and talked to residents two months before.
Similarity between the Crimean Bridge Putin, and the one in Mariupol was only 18 percent.
Body double? Vladimir Putin drives a Mercedes over the missile-damaged Crimean Bridge in 2022
Speculation about doubles has led to wild conspiracy theories that Putin could already have died, and been replaced by a doppelganger.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman said the theory ‘belongs to the category of absurd information hoaxes that a whole series of media discuss with enviable tenacity. This evokes nothing but a smile.’
A reporter for the Russian news agency TASS subsequently asked Putin in February 2020: ‘Are you real?’
Putin replied ‘Yes’ but added that it had been suggested by his security officials.
‘I declined these body doubles,’ he added at the time. ‘This was during the most difficult periods of the fight against terrorism.’
7. The long tables
Putin’s behavior during the pandemic led to suggestions that he could have a vulnerable immune system.
While it seemed reasonable to keep him relatively isolated, the isolation measures seemed drastic.
Visiting dignitaries who were going to meet Putin had to spend up to two weeks quarantining in hotels, and there were reports of officials having to be sprayed with disinfectant before going into his office.
When Macron visited, Putin made him sit at the other end of a 13-foot table.
Putin keeps his distance from Macron in a 2022 meeting
Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was also forced to sit a similar distance away.
And when Putin met with his top officials they all had to sit on the other side of a cavernous hall.
If he was taking drugs for a serious illness that suppressed his immune system, then the precautions would have seemed more explainable, experts say, as they would have left him more vulnerable to a serious coronavirus infection.
8. Rush to conquer Ukraine
Putin’s decision to go all in with his invasion of Ukraine has led to speculation that he decided to accelerate his timeline due to health concerns.
He has compared himself to Peter the Great, the 18th-century Russian tsar, linking their shared desire to conquer.
Putin in 2009 riding a horse while traveling in the mountains of the Siberian Tyva region
Putin’s recent poor posture and his apparently bloated face and neck sparked speculation about a decline in health
Putin’s expansion had previously played out over long periods – in 2008 he invaded Georgia, and then in 2014 Crimea – and he could potentially be president of Russia until 2036, following changes to the constitution.
Many in the West expected him to make what President Biden once called ‘minor incursions’ into Ukraine, hoping there would be no consequences.
But instead of a so-called ‘salami’ approach, taking small slices, he chose to launch a highly risky full-scale invasion.
