A New York Post report claimed that Russian President Valdimir Putin may receive a cancer treatment (File)
Moscow:
An unverified report by the US New York Post has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin may undergo cancer surgery, temporarily handing over power to the country’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Petrushev.
Putin is reportedly told by doctors that he should have an operation, The New York Post reported According to a report by news agency ANI, citing a Telegram channel allegedly run by a former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service lieutenant general.
The anticipated surgery and recovery is expected to leave Putin incapacitated “for a short period of time”, the report said.
Referring to Putin’s alleged “sick appearance and uncharacteristically playful behavior in public” in recent days, the New York Post reports that the Russian president has suffered from several other serious maladies, including cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Rumor has it.
However, a US official said the media reports could not be verified, as Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that “I haven’t seen anything that could help us confirm this,” New York Post said.
A few days ago, Putin reportedly had a two-hour “heart-to-heart” conversation with Nikolai Petrushev, the New York Post reported, citing a Telegram post.
“We know that Putin indicated to Patrushev that he considered him practically his only reliable ally and friend in the government,” the post claimed. “Additionally, the president promised that if his health deteriorated, de facto control of the country would temporarily pass to Petrushev’s hands.”
“Petrushev is an obvious villain. He is no better than Vladimir Putin. Moreover, he is smarter, and I would say, a more insidious person than Vladimir Putin. If he comes to power, the problems of the Russians will only increase ,” said the owner of the Telegram channel that claimed Putin had cancer surgery.
As the New York Post reported, “Putin is unlikely to agree to a long-term handover of power,” with the Telegram channel further claiming that control of the country was probably in Petroshev’s hands for more than two to three days. Will be ,
Russia’s Security Council, of which Petrushev is secretary, is an influential body that answers directly to Putin and issues guidance on military and security issues within Russia, the New York Post reported, adding that most of the council’s power is vested in Petrushev. , widely seen as a staunch ally of Putin.
The report, citing the Moscow Times, said that like Putin, Petroshev is a career Russian intelligence agent, first with the Soviet KGB, then later with the Russian FSB.
Last week, in a rare interview with the state-run Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Petrushev accused the US and Europe of supporting neo-Nazi ideology in Ukraine and trying to drag the conflict “until the last Ukrainian”, the report said. Put it.
“Using their operatives in Kyiv, the Americans, in an effort to suppress Russia, decided to create an antipode of our country, choosing Ukraine for this, essentially trying to divide the same peoples, ‘ he reportedly said.
The Russian president’s health has been questioned in recent weeks, especially after he was seen clutching a table tightly during his meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu last month.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)