Russian leader Vladimir Putin repeatedly scratched his face during a trip outside Moscow, a day after the Kremlin assured him he was healthy despite revealing he had undergone multiple hospital tests.
In an apparent attempt to demonstrate his strong health, Putin appeared before a crowd in the Russian city of Ufa last night as he visited the new fencing center.
But footage of Putin meeting with sports officials shows him repeatedly rubbing and scratching his face and the back of his neck.
The Russian dictator – who is believed to have undergone repeated Botox treatments to mask his aging – had suffered from similar itching a day earlier in Moscow.
It came after the Kremlin insisted there was nothing wrong with Putin’s health, after the dictator revealed he was undergoing “all kinds of regular examinations” at a top hospital in Moscow.
Vladimir Putin was caught on camera repeatedly itching his face during a visit to Ufa’s new fencing centre
The Russian dictator – who is believed to have undergone repeated Botox treatments to mask his aging – faced a similar itch a day earlier in Moscow.
The reason for the mysterious itching was not clear
Russian state media later announced that he had “no health problems,” and his spokesman said the hospitalizations were “routine.”
The reason for the mysterious itching was not clear.
Putin’s health has been the subject of intense speculation for years, as he has been seen coughing incessantly and making seemingly involuntary jerky movements in his hands and feet.
Last month it was revealed that Russian scientists had been ordered to hand over details of their latest research into the fight against aging, in a suspected attempt to rejuvenate Putin and his circle of septuagenarian henchmen.
Putin has long had an interest in combating aging, but there now appears to be a new urgency to strive for an “active lifespan,” it was reported.
Major security measures were put in place ahead of the Kremlin leader’s visit, suggesting paranoia about his safety.
Children in the city were ordered to miss school for two days, instead taking pandemic-style online classes from home.
Some schools gave the risk of virus infections in the city as the reason.
Still others said this was because Putin attended the ‘Russia – a sporting power’ forum, where he met Paralympians and complained that they had been excluded from international competitions because the sport had been ‘politicized’ by the West.
If there was a risk of spreading viral infections, it seems strange that Putin would throw himself into a seemingly random crowd in Ufa, the capital of the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan.
There has been intense speculation about Putin’s health for years
Putin made a surprise visit to the city of Ufa, where he met Paralympic competitors
“From the teachers, thank you,” a female admirer blurted as Putin took his rare stroll.
The Kremlin leader complained that children from poor families in Russia were excluded from sports because parents were expected to pay for them – unlike in the Soviet era.
He demanded a return to the USSR system of free access to surgical training for all talented children.
“I’ll tell you honestly: if I had to pay for everything while I was actively engaged in sports, I would never have become a USSR Master of Sports in Sambo (a Russian martial art) and never reached the standard of a Master of Sports of the Soviet Union in Judo.
‘My family didn’t have an extra cent to pay for everything.
‘But we have to get this right.
‘There should be no costs at all for low incomes and large families.’
