Vladimir Putin has become withdrawn and isolated as he suffers the side-effects of medical treatment which has left him "dizzy and weak", Kremlin insiders claim. The Russian president hardly has any visitors and has become "deeply concerned in recent days", sources claiming to have knowledge of Putin's inner circle said.
His dizziness and weakness has been attributed to many of the medical treatments Putin was said to have been receiving for many months, it was claimed. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February rumours have circulated about Putin's health, including suggestions he is being treated for cancer and suffers from the early stages of Parkinson's disease.
Videos of Putin appearing to show symptoms of Parkinson's emerged last year, but have not been independently verified. His ill health has also been cited as a reason for the use of a 'body double' for official events that the president is too sick to attend. This has also been disputed by the Kremlin.
Russian social media channels, with links to Putin's inner circle, are now claiming he has become even more isolated and withdrawn in the last few days. This is due to his increasing medical treatments and the direction the war has gone in recent months, it was claimed.
The reports stated: "According to the close circle of Russian President Putin, he has become withdrawn, laconic, practically does not receive anyone, and in general, looks deeply concerned in recent days. There are several reasons for this behaviour. Firstly, Putin is undergoing therapy with the use of drugs that, in addition to the therapeutic effect, cause weakness, dizziness, and lack of appetite. This does not have the best effect on the president's psycho-emotional state.
"Secondly, Putin announced 'big decisions', which according to him, should fundamentally change the situation both on the domestic and foreign policy tracks. Now, the president is considering the sequence and time frame for the implementation of 'big decisions'."
It was claimed Putin had become disgruntled by the recent losses of the Russian army on the front and he may resort to using nuclear weapons if his army is on the verge of total defeat and in a bid to reclaim the upper hand. The Russian president has threatened to use nuclear weapons in NATO and the West continues to funnel money and arms into Ukraine. But this move would lead to the political and business elites in the country turning on Putin and could result in regime change, insiders said.
The latest reports added: "He [Putin] is going to play, if not all in, then by raising the stakes to a critical level. In the event of the failure of the Russian Army's impending offensive at the front and the loss of control even over part of the occupied territories, it will be impossible to convince the elites of the possibility of a 'victorious' exit from the military adventure.
"And in this case, there will be no more victorious offensives of the Russian troops. There will be a guaranteed defeat with all the consequences for Putin.
"In this case, the use of nuclear weapons on the territory of Ukraine is possible, but this will lead to a general catastrophe for both Putin and all representatives of the elite without exception.
"This would nullify the current regime in Russia. The chances of holding power for the president would be simply illusory."
It has long been rumoured Putin is considering a general mobilisation in which hundreds of thousands of men would be drafted into the military.
Insiders added: "General mobilisation, the imposition of martial law are all in the plans.
"If implemented, it will undoubtedly result in hundreds of thousands of new victims and a disaster not only for Russia but for the whole world.
"The war exists in the head of one terminally ill man with a disturbed psyche who is trying to take as many people as possible with him to a mythical 'paradise'.
"This should be understood by everyone who participates or is going to participate in hostilities on the side of the Putin regime and follow the order to use nuclear weapons."
It was also claimed Putin planned to install an exiled Ukrainian president as a puppet leader who will then join the country to Russia.
Ukrainian intelligence claimed in the early months of the invasion that Putin intended to put former President Viktor Yanukovych in charge once they took Kyiv and overthrew democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But this plan could not be put into force as Putin's military was halted and a huge column of tanks destroyed on their march to the Ukrainian capital.
The report added: "Putin plans to create an alternative 'good Ukraine' with 'legitimate' President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Viktor Medvedchuk are again on the table of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The old-new Yanukovych, if he survives, of course, must announce the accession of the virtual 'Ukraine' to the Union State and transfer the initiative to Medvedchuk.
"Further, plans differ, but the meaning is clear - to set the population of Russia to war for the 'liberation' of Ukraine as part of Russia, or rather the 'Union State'. There are a lot of plans, but when to implement everything is not yet clear."
Pro-Russian Yanukovych was Ukrainian president from 2010 until he was overthrown in the 'Revolution of Dignity' in 2014, following a long series of protests calling for closer ties with the European Union.
He currently lives in exile in Russia, where he has lived since his removal from office and in January 2019 a Ukrainian court sentenced him in his absence to 13 years in prison for high treason after he fled the country.
Fellow pro-Kremlin politician and oligarch, Viktor Medvedchuk, is described as a personal friend of Putin who was under house arrest since May 2021 for allegedly financing terrorism, over the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Four days into the war, he escaped and went missing before being arrested again by Ukrainian security forces last April and sent to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange that saw over 200 POWs from the siege of Mariupol returned in the opposite direction.
