SPEAKING ILL

Doctors Called to Putin’s Aid After Coughing Fit Derails Blustery TV Address, Report Says

The Russian leader is said to have re-recorded his speech—in which he threatened to use nukes—several times.

Vladimir Putin had to be helped by doctors in the lead up to a national broadcast after a coughing fit and chest pains repeatedly delayed the address, according to a report. Putin’s speech on Wednesday announced a historic military mobilization of around 300,000 troops to radically increase his manpower in Ukraine. But the important broadcast—in which the Russian despot also said he was not bluffing about the prospect of using nuclear weapons—came after behind-the-scenes chaos during the recording of the announcement, the Daily Mail claims. A Telegram channel allegedly run by a former Kremlin insider said Putin’s ill health meant the speech needed to be re-recorded multiple times, while also claiming that three of Putin’s closest allies—including the head of the Russian central bank—threatened to resign over the drastic escalation in the war on Ukraine. “After the fourth unsuccessful attempt to record an appeal, doctors were called to the president, to whom Putin also complained of chest pains,” the channel said. “The doctors advised to postpone the shooting and leave with them for examination, which was done. There is an opinion of people from the president’s inner circle that Putin feigned a health problem in order to reschedule filming and rethink his decision-making. People close to the president know his pathological indecision and uncertainty in making decisions, especially key ones.”