Amid Ukraine war: Ailing, Putin cancels year-end press meet for 1st time since 2012

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Amid reports about his poor health and the Russian army’s ‘reverses’ in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin, 70, for the first time in 10 years, canceled his annual press meet in December.

The media reported on Tuesday that this cancellation further sparked rumors about his failing health.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who announced the cancellation of the annual end-of-the-year press conference, said he hoped that the President “will still find an opportunity” to speak with the press soon. The state-run news agency TASS reported that no media event of the President will take place this month.

Reports said the President scrapped the press conference as many Russians realized the ongoing war has remained inconclusive because of the stiff Ukrainian opposition their government had failed to factor in. Russia’s performance, despite its firepower, has not been satisfactory, and the country had only accumulated enemies the world over.

In February, when President Putin launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine, Moscow thought the war would be over in “48 to 72 hours.” But it has dragged on for nearly 10 months now. The reverses on the war front, as also the geopolitical and economic arenas, may have taken a heavy toll on the health of the President whose robust physique, until a couple of years ago, was seen as a role model for politicians’ health worldwide.

Rumors about President Putin’s health intensified after Russia’s late-February invasion of Ukraine. Some reports cited videos of Putin appearing shaky or tense as evidence that he might have Parkinson’s disease, though some medical experts disputed the claim. In some photographs, they saw him clasping the chair or the table tightly or keeping his hands firmly on his knees or under blankets to cover up their trembling.

In April, a report claimed doctors, including a thyroid cancer surgeon, accompanied President Putin on his trips from 2016 to 2019, and that he may have undergone cancer surgery years ago. 

Not just Putin. The personal health of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, 69, also sparked rumors. In 2020, for example, he disappeared from public events for months after the outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan. His only overseas visits have since been to a couple of countries, the latest being to Saudi Arabia.

According to the media reports, he was suffering from a ‘cerebral aneurysm’ and was hospitalized at the end of 2021. Before that, he preferred to be treated with traditional Chinese medicines rather than going for surgery, which softens the blood vessels and shrinks the aneurysm. He also avoided meeting foreign leaders since the outbreak of Covid-19 until the Beijing Winter Olympics held in January-February 2022.

In March 2019, during his visit to Italy, President Xi’s gait was observed as ‘unusual’ with a noticeable limp. In France, also during the same tour, they saw him taking support while trying to sit down.

During an address to the public in Shenzhen in October 2020, Xi’s delayed appearance, slow speech, and coughing spree again led to speculation about his poor health.