Vladimir Putin is 'seriously ill', suffering from blood cancer, says Russian oligarch in leaked audio-tape

MOSCOW: Christopher Steele, a former British spy, has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seriously ill. Steele, who wrote a dossier on Donald Trump and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election campaign, had told Sky News, "Certainly, from what we're hearing from sources in Russia and elsewhere, is that Putin is, in fact, quite seriously ill."

Amid all this, a Russian oligarch, having close ties with Putin, has reportedly said that the Russian leader is “suffering from blood cancer" in a leaked audio conversation. The unidentified oligarch was heard discussing Putin's health with a Western venture capitalist, in the leaked audio recording obtained by a US magazine New Lines.

The Russian oligarch said that Putin had surgery on his back linked to his blood cancer shortly before ordering the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian President has gone "crazy", he added.

There have been intense speculations around the Russian President's declining failing health ever since the Ukraine war and he looked frail at public events including the Victory Day celebrations last week. 

In the photos and videos doing the on social media, Putin was seen having his legs covered with a thick green cover as he sat among Second World War veterans and senior dignitaries to watch a military parade in Moscow's Red Square. A report by Daily Mail claimed that “Putin appeared to be walking with a heavy step, as if trying to disguise a limp”.

Earlier this month, media reports claimed that the Russian President might undergo cancer surgery and will temporarily hand over power to hardline Security Council head and former Federal Security Service (FSB) commander Nikolai Patrushev.