According to an unsubstantiated article by the New York Post, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s worsening health as a result of long-term thyroid cancer (which the Kremlin has always denied) may force him to temporarily give over authority to Nikolai Patrushev, the former federal police commander.
According to a video posted on Saturday by the mysterious Telegram channel “General SVR,” Putin would hand over the authority of Russia’s government to Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Russian federal police’s Security Council, while he remains paralyzed during and after the procedure.
Putin has been advised by physicians that he must undergo surgery, according to the channel, which is supposedly controlled by a former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service lieutenant general known under the alias “Viktor Mikhailovich.”
Patrushev appears to have impressed Putin because he was picked to rule the country, despite the fact that the power should have been handed on to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who is 56 years old. It’s widely assumed that Mishustin was passed up for the job because he had no known military or secret service links.
Putin regards Patrushev as “the only truly trustworthy person and buddy in the power system.” According to the media outlet, Patrushev was hired after a two-hour one-on-one meeting with Putin.
Who is the new commander of the war?
Nikolai Patrushev was born in 1951 and comes from a military family. His parents managed to flee the Nazi siege of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), but they lost all of their possessions. Son of a Soviet Navy commander who was also a member of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party.
Patrushev, a security officer with the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) in Leningrad, rose to become the director of the local KGB’s anti-smuggling and anti-corruption unit. Following the Soviet Union’s demise, Patrushev continued to work in the security services. From 1992 until 1994, he served as the Republic of Karelia’s Minister of Security. After that, he became the chief of the Directorate of Internal Security of the Federalnaya Sluzhba Kontrrazvedki (FSK), Moscow’s successor to the KGB.
Patrushev rose through the ranks of the FSK, from deputy chief of the Organization and Inspection Department in 1995 to Director in 1999. Notably, he took over the position from his then-close buddy Vladimir Putin. Patrushev has been the Secretary of the Russian Security Council since 2008, after serving as the director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSK) from 1999 to 2008.
Putin’s health status
The footage comes after a revelation from Russian investigative outlet The Project, which claimed in a lengthy article on the strongman’s health that he had seen a cancer specialist named Evgeny Selivanov 35 times in the previous four years. Putin has become so concerned about his health, according to the outlet, that he has resorted to bizarre and brutal treatments.
Putin is reported to bathe in deer antler blood, which is extracted while the antlers are still growing and full of blood, according to the publication. The repulsive “antler baths” are an alternative therapy that helps the cardiovascular system and skin renew.
Putin is also said to be suffering from Parkinson’s disease, according to reports. Putin, according to the general SVR channel, suffers from schizoaffective disorder, a mental health condition characterised by a mix of schizophrenia and mood disorder symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions.
“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 owner of the Telegram channel which claimed about Putin’s cancer surgery said.
However, a US official said that the media reports could not be verified with Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby saying on Monday that “I have seen nothing that could help us corroborate that,” New York Post reported.
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
Published By : Shubham Ghulaxe
