May 3, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to undergo cancer surgery and temporarily hand over power to a hardline former federal police chief, according to a new report.
Putin will transfer control of Russia’s government to Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian federal police’s Security Council, while he is incapacitated during and after the procedure, according to a video from the mysterious Telegram channel, “General SVR,” on Saturday, April 30, reports The New York Post.
The channel—which is purportedly run by a former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service lieutenant general known by the pseudonym “Viktor Mikhailovich” — reported that Putin has been told by doctors that he must undergo an operation.
The anticipated surgery and recovery are expected to incapacitate Putin for “a short time,” according to the unconfirmed report.
“I will say that this is the worst option,” the narrator adds. “Patrushev is an outright villain. He is no better than Vladimir Putin. Moreover, he is a more cunning, and I would say, more insidious person than Vladimir Putin. If he comes to power, Russians’ problems will only multiply.”
“Viktor Mikhailovich” ominously hinted that he and his allies “will make certain efforts so this does not happen, and I hope we will succeed.”
\The video follows reporting from Russian investigative outlet The Project, which — in a sizeable report on the strongman’s vigor—claimed he has been seen by a cancer doctor 35 times in recent years. Indeed, an oncologist, identified by the outlet as Evgeny Selivanov, has reportedly made dozens of secret visits to Putin’s Sochi getaway home over just four years.
Putin has become so paranoid about his health, the outlet claimed, he has even turned to unconventional, and barbaric, therapies. Putin is said to bathe in the blood extracted from deer antlers, which are hacked off while they are growing and still full of fresh blood, the outlet said. The sickening “antler baths” are an alternative therapy in the Altai region of Russia, which borders Khazakstan and Mongolia. Believers say the baths improve the cardiovascular system and rejuvenate the skin, The Project explained.
The report also suggests the Russian president secretly underwent surgery last autumn.“In medical circles, it is believed that the president was undergoing a complicated procedure related to some kind of thyroid disease during this period.”
His suspected health problems come at a particularly inopportune moment, with the war in Ukraine now in its fourth month and Russia suffering heavy losses on the battlefield.
In a Telegram post that appeared on Thursday, April 28, it was alleged that Patrushev had had a two-hour “heart-to-heart” conversation with Putin.
“We know that Putin signaled to Patrushev that he considers him to be practically his only trusted ally and friend in the government,” the post claimed. “Additionally, the president promised that if his health takes a turn for the worse, actual control of the country will temporarily pass into Patrushev’s hands.”
“General SVR” has been reporting on Putin’s supposed oncology diagnosis since at least November 2020—claiming that the Russian dictator suffers from bowel cancer.
New questions were raised about Putin’s physical state last month when he was seen tightly gripping a desk during his meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The Kremlin has consistently denied that Putin suffers from any medical problems
Research contact: @nypost
