In a new video Vladimir Putin appears swollen and embarrassingly grabbing a support desk. This video has raised suspicions that the Russian president is seriously ill.
Footage released by the Kremlin on Thursday shows Putin firmly grasping the table with his right hand as soon as he sits down and holding his hand in the same position throughout the nearly 12-minute clip. Putin sits with his shoulders bent and regularly moves and taps his toes during a meeting with his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, to discuss the fate of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
"The clip shows Putin and his top adviser both depressed and seemingly in poor health," Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist who previously served as an adviser to Russia, wrote on Twitter.
Shoigu is also rumored to have health problems.
Former UK politician Louise Mensch said the footage appeared to support previous reports that "Vladimir Putin has Parkinson's disease".
"Here you can see him grabbing the table so that his trembling hand is not visible, but he can not stop his leg from shaking," she wrote.
Professor Erik Bucy, a body language expert at Texas Tech University, told The Sun that Putin's face looked clearly swollen, saying it "reinforces an unhealthy appearance."
Other reports have suggested that Putin recently had 35 secret meetings with a cancer doctor. The Kremlin has denied that he has the disease and any claims that Putin is in poor health.
