U.S. Intel Sources Say Putin Suffering From ‘Advanced Cancer’: Report Claims
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U.S. intelligence officials have claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin is suffering from advanced cancer, according to a report.
William Arkin, writing for Newsweek, reported three sources within the intelligence community assessed Putin might be stricken with what he called “advanced cancer.”
Arkin spoke to the sources and wrote:
Vladimir Putin’s health is a subject of intense conversation inside the Biden administration after the intelligence community produced its fourth comprehensive assessment at the end of May. The classified U.S. report says Putin seems to have re-emerged after undergoing treatment in April for advanced cancer, three U.S. intelligence leaders who have read the reports tell Newsweek.
Arkin further reported the three intelligent officials confirmed an assessment Putin survived an assassination attempt in March.
One of the sources told Arkin that Putin still wields significant power in the country, but it is “no longer absolute.”
The source said, “The jockeying inside the Kremlin has never been more intense during his rule, everyone sensing that the end is near.”
Intelligence officers cautioned Russia’s war on Ukraine, which is in its fifth month, has hindered their ability to gather reliable information from inside the Kremlin.
Further complicating those efforts is Putin’s isolation since the war began.
“One source of our best intelligence, which is in contact with outsiders, largely dried up as a result of the Ukraine war,” one source told Arkin. “Putin has had few meetings with foreign leaders.”
Another intelligence community source cautioned against speculating on Putin’s health. The person cited past intelligence assessments about the supposedly ailing health of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden to argue the point.
Both men were reported to be in poor health, and neither died of natural causes.
The report Putin is suffering from cancer comes amid widespread speculation Russia’s leader has Parkinson’s disease.
People who have claimed to have been in contact with Putin in recent months have said he shows signs of the generative disease.
