Photo: Russian Presidential Press Service/Kremlin/Handout
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cancer and is expected to undergo surgery, handing over power to a former KBG police chief for two to three days, according to a report on the Telegram channel General SVR.
A Kremlin insider reportedly told General SVR that Putin will transfer control of the Russian government to Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of Russia and former head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), while he is in surgery and after, General SVR reported on Saturday.
The Telegram news channel, run by a former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service lieutenant general known by the pseudonym “Viktor Mikhailovich” — reported that doctors have told Putin he needs an operation and will be out of commission “for a short time,” according to an unconfirmed report.
“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,” the narrator said, according to the New York Post.
Speculation about Putin having Parkinson’s disease intensified after a video circulated on social media showing him walking with a stiff leg, his hand trembling before a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and gripping the table where they sat for 13 minutes.
Parkinson’s disease causes a tremor in the hands.
The Kremlin denied that Putin had undergone surgery related to thyroid cancer, The Moscow Times reported on April 1.
Photo: Russian Presidential Press Service/Kremlin/Handout
