An independent Russian media published this Friday an extensive investigation into the health of the President Vladimir Putin in which he stated that the president has thyroid cancer.
In a detailed article for Putin’s 70th birthday, which he will celebrate on October 7, Projectan independent Russian media outlet specializing in investigative journalism, listed the list of personal doctors accompanying the president on each of his trips.
“Putin is now accompanied by a vast team of doctors, including a surgeon specializing in thyroid cancer,” he said. Project in the article.
Image of strong and active man
Since taking the chair of the head of state at the age of 47, Putin presented himself to the world as an extremely active and strong man. Every year he dives into icy waters, shows off his riding skills, goes hunting and fishing. Putin’s health, in the words of his press secretary Dmitry Peskov, is “excellent.”
Early in his presidential career, Putin was rarely examined and little attention was paid to minor health problems, an official revealed to Project. It was so important to the Kremlin to create the image of an “alpha male” president that he decided to hide any health problems, from the simplest fever to sports-related injuries, he added.
“From the beginning of Putin’s first term, the Kremlin began to hide information regarding the then young president, including when he fell from a horse and hurt his back,” he recalled to the media.
And falls from horses were a problem. In the 2000s, the head of state was passionate regarding equestrian sports, and the injuries associated with this activity did not go unnoticed either. One of the falls was very serious: For some time, Putin “mightn’t even stand up,” and then he was treated for months, recalls an administration official of him who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In a 2012 National Unity Day video, he was seen limping at the flower-laying ceremony at the monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red Square, so the Kremlin press service decided not to release the video of him. event on the official website, limiting itself to photographs, and categorically prohibited news agencies from mentioning the limp in their messages.
Absent at official events
After Putin missed a series of official events that year, his officials unofficially revealed that “the boss was not well,” wearing a corset and needing back surgery.
But then the Kremlin resorted to a necessary tool to avoid giving explanations regarding Putin’s whereregardings and his state of health: the publication of pre-recorded meetings. This allowed him to temporarily disappear from the eyes of journalists and from the entire country. Over time, these disappearances became more and more frequent. As well as his health problems.
Alternative medicine
As he ages, concerns regarding health and longevity become so engrossing for the president that he even shows an interest in alternative medicine, even though many in his family are doctors, the article stated.
In the spring, the Maral de Altay – a typical deer of the region – grow antlers at great speed, several centimeters a day. At this point, the horns are not yet ossified, they are soft and full of blood. A curative effect is attributed to the extract of the horns, which is why there is an entire industry for the production of this ointment. The deer are tied or tied in a special machine, raised to hang, and the antlers are cut off, often with an ordinary hacksaw.
Sergei Shoigu, then head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and current Minister of Defense, was the first among the Russian elite to take an interest in antler baths. In the mid-2000s, he first brought the president to Altay and convinced him of the benefits of the procedure: it supposedly improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system and rejuvenates the skin.
Putin, who began to think more regarding his health, listened to Shoigu and on one of his trips he immersed himself in a bathtub with a concoction of deer antler.
A source familiar with the matter told Project that the president was warned that there is not a single convincing evidence of the benefits of antler baths. But the experience was enough for the president to visit Altay more than once.
Interested in alternative medicine
Putin’s interest in alternative medicine is surprising given that he is surrounded by doctors. The eldest daughter of the head of state, Maria Vorontsova, graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow State University, quickly became a leading researcher at the Russian Center for Endocrinology, and then also a shareholder in the Nomeko medical project, which develops new methods for cancer treatment. Vorontsova’s partner is President Yuri Kovalchuk’s friend.
The article also reported on the president’s frequent visits to the Central Clinical Hospital (CCH), which treats VIP patients. There he was seen on several occasions by Dr. Dmitry Verbovoy, who, as he was able to find out, Projectis a resuscitator and the author of an emergency manual for the treatment of acute illnesses, wounds and poisoning.
Accompanied by doctors
Over the years, Putin stopped going to the Central Clinical Hospital, and doctors began to approach him: they fly to his residences and accompany him on his trips.
Paradoxically, following hiding information regarding Putin’s health for a long time, the authorities have made the information regarding the president’s doctors public.
Everyone who accompanies Putin in the spa city of Sochi, including doctors, stays in four places: in the Grand Hotel Polyana, in the Polyana 1389 Hotel & Spa, in the Rus health center or in the Sochi sanatorium. The agreement between the Hospital Clínico Central and the hotels for the accommodation of the doctors is published on the public contracting website together with the acts of acceptance of the services provided. In the records you can find the names of the doctors and the dates of their stay in the hotels for four years, from 2016 to 2020. From these documents, Project he was able to find out which doctors visited Putin in that period and how often.
From time to time the number of doctors next to the president increases dramatically. On at least two occasions, Project he can claim that Putin underwent a very serious operation or procedure, probably on his back.
Two otolaryngologists, as well as surgeon Yevgeny Selivanov, are Putin’s most frequent companions.
Selivanov is a surgeon specializing in oncology. The topic of his dissertation was “Peculiarities of the diagnosis and surgical treatment of elderly and senile patients with thyroid cancer”. “The interest in the problem of thyroid cancer in elderly and senile patients is due to the difficulty of early diagnosis,” says the summary of his work.
Selivanov was an assistant to Professor Vitaly Bashilov, who, among other achievements, made a “contribution to thyroid surgery.” However, he also co-authored a paper on the management of complications in severe pancreatitis.
The registry of the Central Clinical Hospital confirmed that Selivanov works in the surgical department, but they might not clarify his specialization and Project might not contact him.
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