New images of Vladimir Putin at the Caspian Environmental Summit in Turkmenbashi have reignited concerns about the Russian leader's health, showing his face clearly drooping and his thinning grey hair falling out.
Rumours of death and a body double
For around three years, rumours have circulated that the aging Russian leader actually died at his Valdai Palace and that his body is being kept in a freezer. The initial news broke in late October 2023, alleging that the then-71-year-old succumbed to a myriad of health issues following a fatal heart attack.
The source of these sensational claims, a Telegram channel called General SVR that is believed to be led by a Kremlin insider, reported that a "coup" was underway to replace him. While the Kremlin was forced to deny the rumours within 48 hours – with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling state media RIA Novosti that the report was an “absurd information canard” – the Telegram channel has stubbornly continued to make these claims three years later.
New images from the summit
Putin was at the Caspian Environmental Summit in Turkmenbashi over the weekend as new images surfaced of what clearly looks like a face that's falling apart. In one image, the edges of the normally-frowning face of the Russian despot looks even more droopy than normal, as the corners of his mouth now stretch to the edges of his face.
His hair looks remarkably more thin and grey than it did in pictures taken the week prior – with his ever-receding hairline looking more and more obvious than ever. There had been reports that the body double being rolled out instead of Putin had undergone significant facial reconstruction in recent years, with talk of it seemingly failing on a regular basis.
Claims of 'small man syndrome'
Putin is also known to have “small man syndrome”, and back in February 2023, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, Conservative MP Julian Lewis claimed, during a question in the House of Commons, that Putin was “firmly in the grip of small man syndrome”. He also said that Putin had a “Napoleon complex”. Lewis said that this could be the reason why Putin ordered his troops to take to the streets of Ukraine.
Then former Labour leader Brown, who served as the UK's Chancellor from 1997 to 2007 under then-PM Tony Blair, shed some light on the realities of this rumour. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph's Celia Walden, he recalled a meeting between the pair in 2006. He said: “I first met Putin in 2006 at the Kremlin, when I was still Chancellor. And I was put in a very low seat so that I was looking up at him. He’s certainly a relatively small man, and he wears these stacked heels.
“Anyway, that day he took out these index cards, and proceeded to read out all this information he had about me, as though he wanted to prove that he knew more about me than I knew about myself. So when people say that Putin’s changed and is only now threatening, I can tell you that he was threatening me even then.”
Height on display at the summit
His small man syndrome was on full show during the meeting in Turkmenbashi, during a leaders' line-up photo, where Putin looks smaller than every single one, despite clearly wearing some form of high heels on his shoes.
