Kremlin denies Putin cancer rumors, so is CIA director

Refuting the rumors that Russian President Vladimir Putin is fighting cancer, the Kremlin has stoutly denied such reports once again.

The Kremlin routinely rejected any speculation about Putin’s health. Last week, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin felt “fine” and in “good health” before describing speculation to the contrary as “nothing but hoaxes”.

But the US intelligence community believes that Putin is suffering and he’s being treated for cancer, according to an assessment by the Newsweek. “Putin is definitely sick,” an official from the office of the Director of National Intelligence told the outlet, while noting, whether he’s going to die soon is “mere speculation”.

Two other officials, one from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and a retired Air Force officer, also claimed to have access to a comprehensive intelligence assessment of Putin’s health, and said the outlook for the Russian leader is bleak, according to the report.

Missing from world stage

The assessment supports the theory that Putin was missing from the world stage for much of April because he was undergoing treatment for advanced cancer, the report said.

“Is Putin sick? Absolutely,” the retired Air Force officer said. “But we shouldn’t let waiting for his death drive proactive actions on our part. A power vacuum after Putin could be very dangerous for the world.”

The intelligence community also reportedly believes that Putin is increasingly paranoid about his hold on power and that he may have survived an assassination attempt in March.

File photo: The Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi formally welcomes the President of Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin to the BRICS Summit venue, in Goa on October 16, 2016.(PIB Photo)

“Putin’s grip is strong but no longer absolute,” one of the senior intelligence officers said. “The jockeying inside the Kremlin has never been more intense during his rule, everyone sensing that the end is near.”

The officials also warned that as Putin has become increasingly isolated, access to credible intelligence has become more difficult to obtain. “One source of our best intelligence, which is contact with outsiders, largely dried up as a result of the Ukraine war,” the senior DIA official said, noting that as Putin has fewer meetings with foreign leaders, there are fewer opportunities to learn about his condition.

Meanwhile, CIA Director Bill Burns merely said at the Aspen Institute’s annual security confab that Putin is “entirely too healthy”. He further said the rumors didn’t constitute “a formal intelligence judgment.” But asked directly if Putin was unhealthy or unstable, he said: “There are lots of rumours about President Putin’s health and as far as we can tell, he’s entirely too healthy.”