Vladimir Putin is likely to be experiencing high stress levels and “psychological instability”, speech analysts have suggested.
Voice experts compared his voice from when he ordered Russian troops into war in February to more recent recordings, as his troops continue to struggle in Ukraine.
Risk Measurement Technologies claim they can assess stress levels, mood and levels of anxiety of the Russian president.
The Japanese firm says they can tell a person’s mental state as their vocal chords are changed, affecting their speech patterns, Japanese media reported.
They claim their results show the tyrant is showing signs of struggling under the pressure of the war.
More than an hour’s footage of Putin speaking publicly between February 1 and March 19 was analysed, with results showing high stress levels, mood and levels of anxiety.
It was compared to Putin’s September 2020 address to the United Nations general assembly in which the Russian president praised the UN and called for increased international cooperation, as a baseline.
The analysis noted that Putin was “unsettled and stressed” in session at Russia ’s security council on February 21, where he publicly shouted at his spy chief during a discussion on recognising the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Throughout the meeting, Putin’s voice shifted from high to low stress levels, a possible sign of wavering feelings, according to the study.
At one point he shouted “speak directly” at Sergei Naryshkin, before he agreed with the idea of the regions becoming part of Russia.
The same day he publicly appeared on state television to give a lecture on Ukraine.
His stress levels were said to be lower on February 24, as he announced the invasion in an early morning press conference.
But on March 10, as reports continued to flood in of his failing war, his stress levels detected in his voice were 40% above the baseline.
Kanji Okazaki, from the company, told Japan’s Nikkei Asia newspaper: “We can presume he was in a state of psychological instability.”
It comes amid more rumours of his failing health as reports suggested a surgeon who specialises in thyroid cancer in “elderly and senile” patients is being kept at at Putin’s side.
Yevgeny Selivanov, of Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, has flown to the Russian president at least 35 times in the Black Sea resort Sochi.
There has been widespread speculation in the West suggesting Putin had serious medical issues when he launched a war in Ukraine.
Now investigative media Project (or Proekt) media, which has been blocked in Russia, has information backing the recent theories he is hiding his medical problems from his people.
Project media said: “We promised to reveal to you the main secret of the Kremlin. Of course, we are talking about the health of Vladimir Putin.”
