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Monday, April 25, 2022
Putin's Health Problems Affect Russia’s Political stability
ANBOUND

Some recent videos could possibly indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s health is experiencing some problems. There are speculations over his physical condition, especially in a video of him meeting with Sergei Shoigu, the Minister of Defence.

During the meeting with Shoigu, Putin clutched the corners of a table with his hands and barely managed to hold on for 13 minutes. Since then, there have been new video evidences. The video of Putin's meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko may be clearer video footage of Putin’s health problems. In this video, his legs and hands were shaking, while his legs had difficulty supporting his body, making him appeared to be unstable as he walked.

On April 24, Putin attended a traditional Orthodox Easter service, where he celebrated with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. Putin, dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt, and dark purple tie, stood to one side of the church, holding a lit red candle. When the Patriarch announced, “Christ has risen”, in joined the other members of the congregation with the reply "truly he is risen", but otherwise he did not say a word. As the video shows, Putin is seen fidgeting, chewing, or biting his lips, appearing to be uncomfortable or distracted.

As the world begins to observe Putin's health condition, Russian officials have suddenly started to announce his future schedule intensively. The Russian president’s press secretary said that Putin would attend an economic forum in Saint Petersburg on April 27. Russian television has also reported that Putin would take part in forum events next week. These intensive announcements, with some hints of coincidence, seem to be attempts to conceal the truth.

All in all, it seems that there are indeed certain problems with Putin's health. It could be a Parkinson's-like disease, a mild stroke, or some other illnesses, or perhaps simply alcoholism, especially from the video of the meeting with Lukashenko. In either case, that said, Putin is clearly in an unoptimistic health condition. This has even interfered with his ability to carry out his set work schedule.

It is worth noting that Putin is the only important leader in Russia and the fact that this kind of video footage can be gradually leaked shows that there are certain signs of political instability in Russia right now. Moreover, even if the Russian president experiences no major illnesses, and merely the alcoholism that is common in Russia, his current physical condition probably will not be able to support him to make calm decisions until the end of the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, this war could be prolonged.

As things stand, the various signals, especially political signals within Russia, now indicate that the situation is not in Putin's favor.

There might even be political forces within Russia waiting to act, which could lead to various changes in the political situation.

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