Apparently, according to a recording obtained by the magazine New Lines and made in mid-March, a Russian oligarch refers to the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, as “very sick with cancer in the blood”, reported the newspaper The Sun; it is speculated in different mass media that it might be thyroid.
“He (Putin) completely ruined the economy of Russia, Ukraine and many other economies. the problem is in your head… A madman can turn the world upside down”, allegedly added the alleged oligarch who, according to said medium, appeared in the magazine Forbes as one of the richest men in that country.
According to what was published in TS“a western venture capitalist working with the oligarch secretly recorded the conversation and shared it on condition of anonymity”. Furthermore, he claimed that he “went behind the back of his Russian colleague because of his distaste for Putin’s war in Ukraine.”
For Michael Weiss, news director of the magazine New Lines and whoever wrote the article, the “oligarch might have been sincere or might have been deliberately trying to spread disinformation.”
Meanwhile, Putin insisted this Friday, May 13, before the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on the “Nazi ideology” of the forces that Russia fights in Ukraineonce once more justifying his offensive.
“Attention is focused on investigations of violations of international humanitarian law, by combatants who advocate a Nazi ideology and who use terrorist methods,” The Kremlin said in a statement in which it explained the tenor of Putin’s statements in a telephone interview with the German leader.
Putin reiterated that his offensive, denounced by the international community, sought to protect the Russian-speaking population of eastern Ukraine.
Also this Friday Russia recommended that its citizens avoid traveling to the United Kingdom and announced that it will tighten the conditions for British citizens to obtain a Russian visa. presenting these measures as a response to the “unfriendly” actions of London.
“Due to the extremely unfriendly development of the United Kingdom towards our country, we recommend Russian citizens to avoid traveling to Great Britain,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It denounces the difficulties imposed on the Russians to obtain a British visa, for which the ministry assures that “it will do the same with respect to the English, until the situation is normalized.”
the same source claimed that a number of Russians have complained that obtaining a UK visa was “indeed impossible”. The United Kingdom has had very difficult relations with Russia for years, although the country, and especially London, is usually one of the favorite destinations of the Russian elite.
On the other hand, Putin claimed Thursday that the West is suffering more than Russia from the sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine offensive and said the Russian economy is resistant to “external challenges.”
Those who imposed sanctions, “guided by their inflated and blind ambitions and Russophobia, are dealing a much heavier blow to their own national interests, their own economies and the prosperity of their own citizens,” Putin told a meeting on issues economic.
“We see it above all when looking at the sharp rise in inflation in Europe, which is close to 20% in some countries”; according to him, “it is clear that the continuation of the obsession with sanctions will inevitably lead to the most difficult consequences for the European Union, for its citizens”.
* With information from AFP
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