Vladimir Putin health fears as dictator seen limping from plane before Donald Trump meeting
Russian leader Vladimir Putin's health has come under scrutiny after he was seen limping during as he prepared to meet Donald Trump.
The dictator was forced to take a pause halfway down the stairs of his presidential plane tonight before meeting the US President. It happened just before their crucial talks in Alaska, aimed at forging a peace plan for Ukraine.
Rumours regarding Putin's health have been circulating for years, and his arrival in Anchorage will only add fuel to the fire. The 72-year-old seemed to wince as he walked along the red carpet to greet Mr Trump, where they eventually exchanged pleasantries and handshakes. It comes after Donald Trump's mental state 'clear to see' as lawmakers urged to 'act now'.
Putin warns of nuclear war after unleashing another night of hell on Ukraine
Earlier this year Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky sparked speculation about the dictator's health after he claimed the Russian despot "will die soon". Rumours about the 72-year-old's health have swirled in recent years, with former intelligence chiefs and sources within Russia among those to have alleged he could be seriously - or even terminally - ill.
Some commentators have claimed that his decision to invade Ukraine in 2022 was in part prompted by a growing sense of his own mortality, with the former KGB man said to have become increasingly concerned with cementing his legacy after becoming paranoid during the Covid pandemic. Here's everything we know about Putin's health:
One of the leading theories about Putin's health is that he has a form of Parkinson's disease. Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of MI6, said last year that ongoing concerns over the Russian president's health were likely down to the progressive disorder, which begins with shaking symptoms before leading reduced mobility and brain damage.
Responding to a question about "how well or sick" the Kremlin leader is, the former MI6 boss responded: "I do not have a clear answer to that, but I have contacts and friends still in eastern Europe who think that there is something fundamentally wrong with him medically. But I'm not a clinician.'
He added that it was "probably Parkinson's, which of course has different representations, different variations, different seriousness. But if the man is paranoid - and I think the murder of Navalny might suggest a certain paranoia - that is one of the symptoms."
Many of the health rumours have been prompted by footage of the Russian president jittering and trembling involuntarily. The first reports of this began around 2022, and have persisted in the years as more videos have emerged of him twitching his arms and legs during televised appearances.
Putin was seen shaking "uncontrollably" during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in February, and at one point appeared to use his hand to try and stop his hand moving. In November, he appeared unable to control his movements while giving an hour-long speech at a podium in Kazakhstan. Visible spasms began in his left foot, before spreading to both legs and feet.
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The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Love in a cold climate: Putin romances Trump in Alaska with talk of rigged elections and a trip to Moscow
That was the moment he knew it was true love. Donald Trump turned to gaze at Vladimir Putin as the Russian president publicly endorsed his view that, had Trump been president instead of Joe Biden, the war in Ukraine would never have happened. 'Today President Trump was saying that if he was president back then, there would be no war, and I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so,' Putin said. 'I can confirm that.' Vladimir, you complete me, Trump might have replied. To hell with all those Democrats, democrats, wokesters, fake news reporters and factcheckers. Here is a man who speaks my authoritarian alternative facts language. The damned doubters had been worried about Friday's big summit at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a cold war-era airbase under a big sky and picturesque mountains on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska. They feared that it might resemble Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler in Munich 1938, or Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin carving up the world for the great powers at the Yalta Conference in 1945. It was worse than that. Trump, 79, purportedly the most powerful man in the world, literally rolled out the red carpet for a Russian dictator indicted for alleged war crimes over the abduction and transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children. Putin's troops have also been accused of indiscriminate murder, rape and torture on an appalling scale. In more than 100 countries, the 72-year-old would have been arrested the moment he set foot on the tarmac. In America, he was treated to a spontaneous burst of applause from the waiting Trump, who gave him a long, lingering handshake and a ride in 'the Beast', the presidential limousine. Putin could be seen cackling on the back seat, looking like the cat who got the cream. As a former KGB man, did he leave behind a bug or two? Three hours later, the men walked on stage for an anticlimactic 12-minute press conference against a blue backdrop printed with the words 'Pursuing peace'. Putin is reportedly 170cm (5.7ft) tall, while Trump is 190cm (6.3ft), yet the Russian seemed be the dominant figure. Curiously, given that the US was hosting, Putin was allowed to speak first, which gave him the opportunity to frame the narrative. More curiously still, the deferential Trump spoke for less time than his counterpart, though he did slip in a compliment: 'I've always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin – with Vladimir.' The low-energy Trump declined to take any questions from reporters – a rare thing indeed for the attention monster and wizard of 'the weave' – and shed little light on the prospect of a ceasefire in Ukraine. Perhaps he wanted to give his old pals at Fox News the exclusive. Having snubbed the world's media, Trump promptly sat down and spilled the beans – well, a few of them – to host Sean Hannity, a cheerleader who has even spoken at a Trump rally. The president revealed: 'Vladimir Putin said something – one of the most interesting things. He said: 'Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting … No country has mail-in voting. It's impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.' 'And he said that to me because we talked about 2020. He said: 'You won that election by so much and that's how we got here.' He said: 'And if you would have won, we wouldn't have had a war. You'd have all these millions of people alive now instead of dead. And he said: 'You lost it because of mail-in voting. It was a rigged election.'' In other words, the leader of one of the world's oldest democracies was taking advice from a man who won last year's Russian election with more than 87% of the vote and changed the constitution so he can stay in power until 2036. In this warped retelling of history, the insurrectionists of January 6 were actually trying to stop a war. Evidently Putin knows that whispering Trump's favourite lies into his ear is the way to his heart. It worked. The Russian leader, visiting the United States for the first time in a decade, got his wish of being welcomed back on the world stage and made to look the equal of the US president. He could also go home reassured that, despite a recent rough patch, and despite Trump's brief bromance with Elon Musk, he loves you yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Next time in Moscow,' he told Trump in English. 'Oh, that's an interesting one,' the US president responded. 'I'll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.' Trump's humiliation was complete. But all was not lost. At least no one was talking about Jeffrey Epstein or the price of vegetables.
Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Putin stuns Trump as he breaks into English to make surprise Moscow offer after leaders announced 'no deal' on ending Ukraine war
Four words, spoken in English by Russian President Vladimir Putin, seemed to surprise even Donald Trump at the end of their Alaska summit Friday: 'Next time in Moscow.' Trump, who admitted peace talks in Anchorage 'didn't get there', appeared to have been caught off guard, but winged an answer that was both encouraging and non-committal. 'That's an interesting one, I'll get a little heat on that one,' Trump said with a laugh. 'But I could see it possibly happening.' The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for further comment on Putin's invitation. No American president has visited Russia since Barack Obama attended the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg in 2013. Many were shocked by the overture from Putin to Trump in the moment. 'History is unfolding before our eyes,' one pro-Trump commenter stated. 'That must be the first time he's spoken English on camera in years,' noted journalist Saagar Enjeti. Liberals, unsurprisingly, were critical of the offer as they were of much of the entire meeting. 'Putin opened and spoke first, spoke longer and got the last word inviting his pal Trump to Moscow. Stuffed Trump in a locker. Pathetic and Weak,' wrote former Congresswoman Barbara Comstock. Trump has been to Moscow in the past, including in 2013 to stage the Miss Universe Pageant. He also went with his first wife Ivana on a trip to the then-Soviet Union in 1987, writing in The Art of the Deal that it was after a representative of the USSR suggested he could do business there, potentially building a hotel. Obama was also the last president to go to the Russian capital in Moscow, where he first met with Putin in 2009. However, relations between the United States and the Kremlin have gone downhill since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the 'Russiagate' hoax and allegations of interfering in US elections in 2016 and the War in Ukraine that began in 2021. Joe Biden's lone meeting with Putin took place in Geneva in June 2021, just months before the war began. At the summit today, Putin claimed the conflict would not have happened had Trump been president at the time. Bill Clinton, George H.W. and George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon all went to Russia at least once. grea Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended the famous Yalta Conference to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill just months before his death in 1945. Joe Biden's lone meeting with Putin took place in Geneva in June 2021, just months before the war began. At the summit today, Putin claimed the conflict would not have happened had Trump been president at the time. But the president left the world hanging announcing no details and answering no questions about his 'extremely productive meeting ' with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the future of Ukraine. What was clear was that there was no immediate ceasefire or peace deal to end the Ukraine war out of Friday's Anchorage, Alaska talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. 'We didn't get there,' the usually ebullient president acknowledged, 'but we have a very good chance of getting there.' In an extremely uncharacteristic move, Trump allowed Putin to speak first - at what had been billed as a bilateral press conference - and then didn't answer a single question before shaking hands with Putin again and sauntering offstage. Their whole appearance before the press lasted just 12 minutes following more than three hours of private conversation. 'I'm going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left,' Trump said. He added, 'Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant.' In his opening statement, Putin flattered Trump by saying his assessment about the Ukraine war was true and that it never would have happened under Trump's watch. 'Today when President Trump's saying that if he was the president back then there will be no war. I'm quite sure it would indeed be so, I can confirm that,' Putin said in Russian through a translator. Putin also placed blame on former President Joe Biden for the U.S.-Russia relationship unraveling, not his February 2022 invasion of America's ally Ukraine. 'I'd like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,' Putin said, adding it was a 'big mistake.' Putin noted that the U.S.-Russia relationship had soured 'to the lowest point since the Cold War.' 'I think that's not benefiting our countries and the world as a whole,' Putin said. 'It's apparent that sooner or later we had to amend the situation and move on from the confrontation to dialogue.' But Putin's comments were mostly backward-looking, a glaring indication that the U.S. and Russia remained apart on the crucial issues that could lead to a ceasefire in Ukraine. What was clear was that there was no immediate ceasefire or peace deal to end the Ukraine war out of Friday's Anchorage, Alaska talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. 'We didn't get there,' the usually ebullient president acknowledged, 'but we have a very good chance of getting there.' In an extremely uncharacteristic move, Trump allowed Putin to speak first - at what had been billed as a bilateral press conference - and then didn't answer a single question before shaking hands with Putin again and sauntering offstage. Their whole appearance before the press lasted just 12 minutes following more than three hours of private conversation. 'I'm going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left,' Trump said. He added, 'Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant.' During a sit-down with Sean Hannity taped in the room the summit occurred, the Fox News host asked if the president would reveal to him what that one issue is. 'No, I'd rather not,' Trump replied. 'I guess somebody is going to go public with it, they'll figure it out, but no, I don't want to do that. I want to see if we can get it done.'
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Putin criticised by Ukraine's ambassador to Australia after inconclusive meeting with Trump
Vladimir Putin remains determined to 'revive the Soviet Union' by 'destroying democracy next door', Ukraine's ambassador to Australia has said in the wake of the Russian president's inconclusive meeting with the US president, Donald Trump. Putin and Trump met for nearly three hours in Alaska, emerging to tell reporters that 'great progress' had been made on a deal to end Russia's war on Ukraine but that there was no peace agreement. 'There's no deal until there's a deal,' Trump said, saying he would brief Nato leaders and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the meeting. Putin, through an interpreter, said while he agreed Ukraine's security should be guaranteed insisted the 'root causes' of the conflict must be resolved. Speaking to the ABC in the wake of the meeting, Ukraine's ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko said the root cause of the conflict from Putin's perspective was a sovereign, independent and democratic Ukraine. 'When Putin talks about the 'root cause of war', it's an independent Ukraine on the map of Europe. That's the only cause of war for Russia. 'He planned to take over Kyiv in several days, the entire Ukraine in several weeks … he is pursuing his ambition of destroying democracy next door.' Putin had given no indication he was prepared to withdraw from his irredentist ambitions, Myroshnychenko said. 'Putin is just out there on his mission to revive the Soviet Union, to revive the Russian empire, and it can't be revived without Ukraine. Just overnight, as we speak, Russians have attacked many Ukrainian cities, sent many drones. So we don't really see any indication of him ending his war.' Sign up: AU Breaking News email Myroshnychenko said while it was a positive step that the meeting had taken place, a bilateral discussion – with only the US and Russia at the table – could not broker a sustainable peace. 'We welcome America's involvement in this to make sure this war can end, but we understand it can't end without Ukraine involved, without Europe involved … we can't discuss the security of Europe without Europe at the table.' In Anchorage, Alaska, Trump and Putin's planned one-on-one meeting was replaced by a three-on-three meeting that also included US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff on the American side. Alongside Putin was Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, a former ambassador to the US. After the meeting, the two presidents addressed reporters but took no questions. The Russian president spoke first, urging both countries to 'turn the page' on their fraught relationship and 'go back to cooperation'. He said he and Trump had worked out 'an understanding' but no final agreement and urged European leaders to 'not throw a wrench in the works' and to 'not use backroom dealings' to undermine the progress that had been made. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'I have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come – and the sooner the better – to the end of the conflict in Ukraine.' But Putin also insisted that the 'root causes' of the conflict must be resolved. Those 'root causes' have previously included demands for Ukraine's formal renunciation of Nato membership as well as its 'denazification' – an ill-defined set of demands that include the removal of Zelenskyy as president. The US president, who spoke more briefly than Putin, described the meeting as 'extremely productive'. Trump warned: 'There's no deal until there's a deal. I will call up Nato … I'll, of course, call up [Ukraine's] president Zelenskyy and tell him about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them.' The chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, Kateryna Argyrou, said Putin went to Alaska with 'nothing to offer except more war'. 'No ceasefire, no retreat from his maximalist demands … even as discussions were taking place, Russian missiles and drones were raining down on Ukrainian cities and towns.' Argyrou said Putin only wanted Ukraine's surrender, not peace. 'His recycled propaganda about 'root causes' is simply code for denying Ukraine's right to exist as a sovereign, independent nation – a denial made real through the devastation Ukrainians face every day. 'There can be no lasting peace until Russia faces the truth: Ukraine is a sovereign nation.' Argyrou urged Australia to 'stay united' with allies in backing Ukraine's defence and enforcing sanctions against Russian figures.
