Questions arise about Putin's health after awkward fall

Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly soiled himself after falling on his Donbas late last week, causing the world to speculate about his declining health. 

According to the anti-Kremlin Telegram channel General SVR, a member of Putin’s security team leaked that the Russian leader had fallen down the stairs of his Moscow residence, tumbling down five steps before landing on his tailbone. 

Although Putin’s team immediately rushed to his aid, the impact had caused him to “involuntary defecate” due to “cancer affecting his stomach,” according to the Telegram channel. 

This incident was the latest in a long line of health scares that has left the world on edge as speculation about Putin’s health continues to intensify. 

Ever since the invasion of Ukraine began, claims have been made that Putin has been suffering from everything from cancer to some form of neurodegenerative disease. 

At the beginning of November, British news outlet The Sun reported that Putin was battling both pancreatic cancer as well as Parkinson’s disease. 

“I can confirm he has been diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson’s disease,” a secret Russian security services insider told The Sun, “but it’s already progressing.”

“This fact will be denied in every possible way and hidden,” the source continued, adding that “Putin is regularly stuffed with all kinds of heavy steroids and innovative pain-killing injections to stop the spread of pancreatic cancer he was recently diagnosed with.”

Putin has been showing his age as of late, but this doesn’t necessarily mean he is suffering from a life-threatening illness. 

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that Putin is sick, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov telling French broadcaster TF1, "I don’t think that sane people can see in this person signs of some kind of illness or ailment."

But not everyone agrees with this assessment and there has been some minor proof from other individuals within the Russian security apparatus.

In a written interview with the Sunday Mirror, a Russian security service source noted that Putin was suffering from “headaches when he appears on TV” and needed “pieces of paper with everything written in huge letters.”

“His eyesight is seriously worsening,” the security agent continued, adding that Putin’s limbs are “now also shaking uncontrollably”.

Shaky limbs are certainly something we have seen in Putin’s public appearances since the war in Ukraine began, but there isn't very substantive supportive evidence that Russia’s leader is actually ill. 

On December 5th, Putin drove across the Crimean Bridge in order to not only show that the bridge was stable again but also to show the Russian public that he was not, in fact, ill.

"We are driving on the right-hand side," Putin said to a camera as he drove across the bridge, "The left side of the bridge, as I understand it, is in working condition, but nevertheless it needs to be completed."

The public will probably never know if Putin is sick, or if he actually pooped his pants, until long after Putin’s death. But it is still important to take the claims seriously since any illness could affect the Russian leader's decision-making process in his ongoing war in Ukraine.