Russian President Vladimir Putin carries a suitcase filled with his own excrement and urine out of fear it might reveal too much information about his health should it fall into the wrong hands, according to reports.
“Putin fears the possibility of any information about his health getting into the hands of foreign intelligence services,” Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former DIA intelligence officer, told Fox News Digital.
“He wants to project the image that he will be ruling Russia indefinitely in order to deter any chaos associated with a change of power.”
A report from Paris Match via the Moscow Times reveals Putin has a special aide from the Federal Guard Service who handles the suitcase, which contains his fecal matter and urine collected during his trips, and returns it to Moscow.
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Koffler explained that Putin likely fears anyone using the excrement as evidence of some kind of weakness in the Russian president’s health.
“While there is much speculation about Putin’s having a terminal illness, the intelligence about his health is inconclusive,” Koffler said. “Short of a terminal illness, Putin will likely be Russia’s president at least through 2024 and possibly through 2036, given that his popularity has skyrocketed after the invasion of Ukraine.”
Putin has an 81% approval rating despite scattered protests since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Reports of Putin’s health have circulated since before the invasion began, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov just last week denying that the Russian president was seriously ill.
“You know, President Putin appears in public every day. You can see him on the screens, read his speeches, listen to his speeches,” Lavrov said. “I don’t think sane people can discern any sort of symptom of disease in this man.”
A recent recording reportedly revealed a Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch saying Putin was seriously ill with blood cancer.
Reports prior to the invasion suggested Putin remained isolated to avoid showing signs of poor health. Critics pointed to his extended periods of isolation as a cause for questionable judgment leading up to and during the invasion of Ukraine.
