Several news outlets reported a rumor this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest, collapsing in the presidential bedroom.
The reports added that the 71-year-old Russian leader had to be resuscitated and taken to a special intensive care unit after security heard him falling to the floor.
Putin's health has been a subject of rumor for years, with Kremlin secrecy letting speculation run unbound. Interviews and recorded meetings with other world leaders have often been scrutinized for clues hinting at whether he may be sick or terminally ill.
This latest report attracted the attention of journalists around the world. Indian magazine Business Today's headline read "Russian President Vladimir Putin suffers cardiac arrest, collapses in bedroom: Report." "Vladimir Putin 'resuscitated' after having 'cardiac arrest' claims Telegram channel," wrote British tabloid Daily Mirror. The New Statesman, a U.K. newsmagazine, republished an article from June 2022 titled "Is Vladimir Putin Dead?"
However, the report was sourced from a social media channel that has been linked to a series of unevidenced and occasionally highly implausible rumors about Putin.
General SVR, a Telegram channel, has shared multiple stories about Putin's health and his grip on power, including the story about his cardiac arrest.
A post on October 23, 2023, stated that officers had found the president "convulsively arched while lying on the floor, rolling his eyes" and "was moved to a specially equipped room in his residence, where the necessary medical equipment for resuscitation had already been installed."
General SVR went on to say that while the "president's condition has been stabilized and is under constant medical supervision," the incident "seriously alarmed the president's inner circle despite the fact that the attending doctors had already warned that Putin was very ill and was unlikely to live until the end of autumn."
The channel has repeatedly said Putin has been using body doubles to carry out official duties with discussions of a successor in process.
Other unevidenced claims that General SVR has shared included how Putin fell down a flight of stairs and soiled himself, that he faced an assassination attempt in Moscow, and that he was due to undergo emergency colon surgery in December 2022.
However, this story, much like General SVR's other stories, was presented without sources or other evidence that would enhance its credibility.
The likelihood that the Kremlin would offer detailed information about Putin's ongoing health seems slim, given its secrecy, its attitude toward critics of the president and the effects revealing such information would have on international diplomacy.
While an unexpected cardiac arrest is not implausible, the Russian leader did appear in public and on camera last week, seemingly in fine health, chairing a Security Council meeting in Moscow on Friday and attending a boxing tournament in the Urals city of Perm on Thursday.
Putin, in theory, could be sick, and other more reliable sources have kept this speculation alive. Three intelligence leaders told Newsweek in July 2022 that a classified U.S. report said Putin had undergone treatment in April 2022 for advanced cancer.
The same year, The Moscow Times cited an investigative report by independent Russian media outlet Proekt Media that said Putin was accompanied by doctors, including a thyroid cancer surgeon, on trips to his residence in Sochi from 2016 to 2019 and that doctors "may have performed surgery" on him in November 2016.
Russian state media has since quoted presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov who has denied the cardiac arrest claim.
"Everything is fine with him, this is another canard, absolutely," Peskov said.
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
