Ladimir Putin is suffering from “serious” diseases and can only have years to live, Ukraine’s top spy chief has claimed.
Major General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the defense intelligence of Ukraine, made the allegations in an interview with USA Today, which contributed to long-term speculation about the Russian president’s health.
Referring to what he called “human intelligence” from Ukraine’s spies who allegedly operate out of the Kremlin, he claimed that Putin “does not have a long life ahead of him.”
I estimated he could only have two years left to live.
Putin is notoriously private and evidence for the allegations of ill health has not been made public.
Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was forced to deny that Vladimir Putin was seriously ill after several reports that he was being treated for blood cancer.
In response to a question from France’s broadcaster TF1, Mr Lavrov said at the time: “I do not think sensible people can see signs of any kind of illness or ailment in this person.”
She added: “I leave it to the conscience of those who spread such rumors.”
In the interview, Mr Budanov also said that the Ukrainian army would soon achieve “obvious” victories to ward off Russia’s unprovoked invasion, and that two U.S. volunteer fighters for Ukraine captured by Russian troops were likely within “a few months “will be released in a prisoner exchange. .
I spoke from Kiev and predicted that if Ukraine continues to receive military aid, it will begin to achieve decisive “victories” by mid-August in its four-month-old war with Russia that will “be self-evident to the world community”.
Of the two American prisoners, Mr Budanov said: “We are working on it. The way to solve it is not easy … but we do see a way to solve it.
“It will more or less be related to a prisoner exchange.
“We have people at our disposal who want the Russians a lot, who desperately need them to get them back … but that will not happen in a week or two. It will take a few months. ”
This comes as the head of NATO said on Monday that the military alliance would increase the strength of its rapid reaction force almost eightfold to 300,000 troops as part of its response to an “era of strategic competition”.
The NATO Response Force currently numbers about 40,000 troops who can deploy quickly when needed.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the move was part of the “biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War”.
Stoltenberg made the remarks at a press conference ahead of a NATO summit later this week in Madrid where further support for Ukraine is expected to be on the table.
Stoltenberg said he expected allies to make it clear that they considered Russia “the most important and most immediate threat to our security”.