A former US intelligence officer has claimed that Vladimir Putin may be terminally ill.
Nisha Mal & Jack Thurlow 8 March 2022
The officer, now working for the Pentagon, has said the Russian president's "puffy face" is a sign he has terminal bowel cancer and that he is receiving chemotherapy or on steroids.
The source claimed the attacks being carried out on the Ukraine could be because Putin knows that he is dying and wants to leave behind a legacy.
Putin's solemn expression is also said to be a sign that he is in constant pain, as reported by HullLive.
The source said: “In the past we have seen him smile, but in 2022 there are few pictures of him looking happy. His look suggests he is in pain and our people suggest his angry look is most likely as a result of him being in agony.
"Our people are confident he is ill – he is concerned about Covid as he keeps his staff at a distance.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on Mr Putin's orders on Thursday, February 24.
Since then he has put Russia's nuclear deterrent on high alert, reportedly as a response to a TV interview given by UK foreign secretary Liz Truss on Sunday, March 27.
This has raised fears nuclear war could be a possibility. The country's foreign minister also warned that if a third world war were to occur, it would involve nuclear weapons and be destructive.
It comes after former foreign secretary and medical doctor Lord Owen accused the president of using muscle-boosting drugs, after detailing how his face changed.
Lord Owen told Times Radio: "Look at his face, see how that has changed - he now has an oval face. "People who said, oh, it's plastic surgery or Botox, I don't believe that at all."
Previous shots of the state leader show him riding topless on a horse, or fishing - and his face appears thinner. He went on to explain how steroids could alter the face shape and look.
He continued: "He's on either anabolic steroids as a bodybuilder - and he's very proud of his muscles and strips to the waist and everything like that - or he's on corticosteroids. "If you're on these drugs, this gives you this face.
"It reduces your immunity and makes you more vulnerable to Covid. This man has been in complete isolation, quite extraordinary, won't see anybody, stays miles away, tremendous pressures.
"Which indicates he's on a steroid and probably, maybe, a combination of both." Some experts have commented they believe Putin's isolation during the Covid pandemic has affected his mental state, pushing him to decide on invading Ukraine and sending thousands of troops across the border.
