Vladimir Putin: Rumours about his health are circulating once again after his latest blunder

Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a devastating ‘avoidable’ war that followed made people question his mental and physical health and fed the speculations he was seriously unwell and therefore had ‘nothing to lose’.

Over the course of the last 17 months, various experts analysed the Kremlin leader’s movements, speech, gait, and posture over suspicion that he has terminal cancer, Parkinson's disease, or was on heavy medications.

Some rumours were even questioning if he was still alive, which is not surprising, taking into account that he is believed to use body doubles.

Putin’s latest appearance saw a bizarre memory lapse that immediately sparked new ‘dementia’ speculations.

Here is what happened.

Vladimir Putin exposes memory problems

Despite Kremlin’s claims that Vladimir Putin is in ‘excellent health’, it’s only natural that the 70-year-old politician's mind is not as sharp as it used to be, and that he may suffer from various health conditions typical for his age.

His latest appearance fed the rumours that he suffers from dementia.

Uliana Yapparova, a blogger who tweets about Russia and Ukraine, posted a clip that shows Putin speaking with a supporter at the meeting of ‘Russia - the Land of Opportunities’, a non-profit set up in 2018 to help citizens develop business ideas.

He was listening to the case of Ivan Shtokman - a man who rose from working in a bakery to building an IT business, and then became a deputy mayor of the city of Nizhny Novgorod where his brief included IT, tourism, and developing businesses.

To Putin’s delight, the entrepreneur-turned-politician decided to join the war in Ukraine following 'a patriotic pull' he felt while sitting on a bench at his summer house with his son.

Russia’s President, who seemed impressed with the story and praised Shtokman for coming to ‘ the most important thing in this search ... dedication to this country’ and for his willingness to join ‘a struggle for the future of our children’, did something that made the audience question whether he was 'alright'.

The blunder saw Vladimir Putin ask about the age of Shtokman’s children, with the entrepreneur replying, ‘The youngest is nine’ while the elder, 23.

But the Kremlin leader got the age wrong, muttering, ‘Your little one is three years old’ before once again praising Shtokman's decision to go to the front line.

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Here is how people reacted to Putin’s potential dementia symptom

This is not the first time this week Vladimir Putin says something that sets Twitter on fire with discussions about whether he is ‘in good health’.

Just a few days ago he gave a really ‘weird’ response to news from the Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev about the death of soldiers in Ukraine.

After Kobzev gave an overview of Ukrainian frontline losses amongst troops from his region, Putin responded ‘pass on my regards to them.’

The ‘chilling’ comment sparked comparisons with the ‘Good health to the fallen’ meme from Ukrainians in response to Russians killed in action.

Yapparova's tweet saw thousands of Twitter users tune in, like, comment and repostabout the President's health.

One follower labelled the politician ‘abnormal’ pointing out that he ‘was looking at the ceiling’ while ‘slowly muttering about the search for a place in the country’.

Another one wrote:

He can't hear people at all.

One more user concluded that it was a clear display of ‘dementia’ while someone else wrote next to the video: ‘Alzheimer's.’

That being said, Kremlin has continuously denied rumours that Vladimir Putin has any health problems and have always maintained that he is in good health.

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Sources used:

- Newsweek: 'Putin's Bizarre Memory Lapse Sparks 'Dementia' Rumors'