Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says President Vladimir Putin is not seriously ill despite claims by journalists, news outlets, and Russian oligarchs that he might have cancer or is otherwise terminally ill.
“President Putin appears in public every day. You can see him on the screens, read his speeches, listen to his speeches,” Lavrov told French media TF1. “I don’t think sane people can discern any sort of symptom of disease in this man.”
A report published Sunday by the Sunday Mirror quoted an officer from the FSB, Russia's main intelligence service, who claimed Putin, 69, was given three years to live.
The officer described Putin’s condition as a “severe form of rapidly progressing cancer” and said he had “no more than two to three years left.”
Additionally, he said, Putin was losing his sight and suffering from headaches.
“We are told he is suffering from headaches and when he appears on TV he needs pieces of paper with everything written in huge letters to read what he’s going to say,” the Russian officer told the news outlet.
“They are so big each page can only hold a couple of sentences. His eyesight is seriously worsening.”
The source added that Putin’s limbs are “now also shaking uncontrollably.”
