プーチン氏の健康めぐり臆測　怪しげな長寿法、がん説も

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】鹿の角から抽出した血液を浴びる「長寿法」を行ったり、外遊の際は外国政府に健康状態を悟られないよう排せつ物を側近が回収したりしている──。１０月で７０歳になるロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領の健康状態をめぐり、怪しげなものからセンセーショナルなものまで、検証不能なさまざまな臆測が流れている。（写真はロシア・モスクワの軍病院を訪問し、負傷兵を見舞うウラジーミル・プーチン大統領）
　プーチン氏の健康状態は、特にウクライナ侵攻後、欧州の将来を左右する要因となっている。だが、プーチン氏は２０年にわたって権力の座にあったが、マッチョなイメージを演出するためにクレムリン（大統領府）が公開した、例の有名な上半身裸の写真以外に、健康に関する情報はほとんどない。
　■保養地に「フェイクオフィス」？
　ロシア語のニュースサイト「プロエクト」は４月、公開情報に基づいた調査報道で、プーチン氏が南部の保養地ソチを訪問するタイミングで、大勢の医師が同地入りしていると指摘した。
　甲状腺がんの専門医エフゲニー・セリバノフ氏もその一員だった。過去数年間、同氏がソチ入りしたタイミングと、プーチン氏が突如、公の場から姿を消すタイミングは、符合することが多かったとしている。
　しかもソチには、プーチン氏が静養中にも首都で執務しているかのように見せかけるため、モスクワ郊外にある大統領公邸を模した「フェイクオフィス」が設置されているという。
　同サイトはさらに、プーチン氏がはまっている「長寿法」の一つに、シベリアに生息する鹿の角から抽出した血液を浴びるというものがあり、同地出身の盟友セルゲイ・ショイグ国防相に勧められたと伝えている。
　仏週刊誌パリ・マッチは今月、プーチン氏が２０１７年にフランス、１９年にサウジアラビアを訪問した際、健康状態を外国政府に察知されないよう、同氏がトイレに行くたびに側近らが付き添い、尿や便を回収していたと報じた。
　米誌ニューズウィークも今月、米情報機関の機密情報として、プーチン氏が４月、進行しているがんの治療を受けたと伝えた。米国家安全保障会議はそうした情報の存在を否定。しかしウクライナ国防省のキリロ・ブダノフ情報総局長は英衛星放送スカイニューズのインタビューで、証拠は示さなかったが、プーチン氏はがんだと主張した。
　■具体的な情報は
　クレムリンがプーチン氏の健康問題を認めたことが、一度だけある。２０１２年秋のことだ。当時、プーチン氏が足を引きずる姿が目撃され、同氏は複数の会合への出席を取りやめ、公の場から姿を消した。
　クレムリンはその時、プーチン氏は筋肉を痛めたと説明した。一方、あるメディアは、モーターハンググライダーでツルと並んで飛行した際の出来事で、背中の状態が悪化したと報じた。
　新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）の際にも、異常な振る舞いが見られた。プーチン氏との面会に当たってクレムリンが示した厳しい条件に従わなかったとして、一部の指導者は長大なテーブルを挟んで座らされた。フランスのエマニュエル・マクロン大統領や国連（ＵＮ）のアントニオ・グテレス事務総長のように。
　プーチン氏が４月、ショイグ国防相と会談した際、テーブルの端を強く握り締めていたことも臆測を呼んだ。体の震えを抑えるためだったとの説も出回った。
　世界的に政府関連の業務がコロナ下態勢から通常態勢に戻りつつある中でも、プーチン大統領はオンライン方式を多用している。
　■健康不安を否定
　クレムリンのドミトリー・ペスコフ報道官は、プーチン氏が深刻な健康問題を抱えているとの見方を強く否定している。
　実際、最近行われたトルクメニスタンのグルバングルイ・ベルドイムハメドフ大統領との会談の様子を見ても、肉体面での衰えの兆しはうかがえなかった。
　本命視されている後継者は浮上していない。プーチン氏は軍の最高司令官でもあり、２月２４日のウクライナへの侵攻開始は同氏が決定したものだ。
　プロエクトのロマン・バダニン編集長は「ロシアは国家運営を担っている人物の心身の健康状態について真実を知らされていない」と話す。「世界中が、赤いボタンを押して人類を破滅に導くこともできる人物が健康なのか知らないのだ」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/06/23-15:23）

Baths in blood extracted from the antlers of Siberian deer. Excrements scooped up by loyal officials to evade analysis. Mysterious absences for emergency medical treatment.
The claims made about the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be 70 in October, are lurid and macabre, as well as impossible to verify.
But they illustrate how little is known about the health of a leader whose medical condition is fundamental to the future of Europe, all the more so after he ordered Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Over the course of Putin's two decades in power, remarkably little has emerged about his health, beyond the famous images provided by the Kremlin showing him bare-chested in a bid to project an image of macho strength.
But scrutiny has now increased with the war that Putin unleashed against Russia's neighbour.
- What are the claims? -
The most in-depth investigation into Putin's health was published in April by the Russian-language news site Proekt, which used open-source data to conclude that the president's trips to the southern resort city of Sochi were synchronised with those of a large number of doctors.
They included specialist in thyroid cancer Yevgeny Selivanov, whose visits to Sochi frequently coincided with Putin's sudden absences from the public eye over the past years.
It also alleged that one of the methods used by Putin to ensure longevity were baths in blood extracted from deer antlers in Siberia, a method recommended by his friend Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is from Siberia.
French weekly Paris Match this month said that on visits to Saudi Arabia in 2019 and France in 2017, Putin was accompanied by a team whenever he went to the toilet, to keep his excretions so no foreign power could medically analyse his urine or stools.
Even more sensationally, US publication Newsweek said in June that Putin had undergone treatment for advanced cancer in April, citing American intelligence. The US National Security Council denied the existence of such briefings.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, in a mid-May interview with Sky News claimed without evidence that Putin has cancer.
Proekt also alleged that the Kremlin set up a fake office in Sochi that purported to look like the one at his suburban Moscow residence to make it look like he was working in the Russian capital rather than resting at the Black Sea resort.
- What information is there?
The only time the Kremlin confirmed Putin was suffering a health problem was the fall of 2012, when he cancelled several meetings and vanished from public life after being seen moving awkwardly.
The Kremlin at the time said he had pulled a muscle and one newspaper said he aggravated a back problem during a stunt when he flew with cranes on a motorised hang-glider. But Proekt alleges it was here that his major health problems began.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also seen sometimes odd conduct from the Russian leader.
The Kremlin said he had been vaccinated, but unlike almost all other world leaders, no images ever emerged of his jab. Those coming into close contact with him, including journalists, were subject to the most stringent precautions such as days of quarantine.
Visiting world leaders who did not accept the Kremlin's stringent conditions -- such as French President Emmanuel Macron and UN chief Antonio Guterres -- were banished to the end of a now notoriously long table.
Those who accepted the Kremlin's demands, including a Russian Covid test, and possibly quarantine, such as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan were allowed a handshake and even an embrace.
A meeting with Shoigu on Ukraine in late April also fuelled rumours with Putin tightly gripping the table in what some saw a bid to stop body tremors. Numerous videos have also shown one of Putin's feet fidgeting during meetings.
The Kremlin has meanwhile postponed Putin's annual direct line phone-in with the Russian people, usually a fixture in June, to a later date without explanation.
Huge efforts appear to have been made to protect Putin. In his 2020 annual news conference only a handful of reporters -- quarantined and tested beforehand -- were allowed in the room with him, while others massed in another hall.
In 2021, the event returned to its usual format but with a vast distance between the front row of journalists and Putin's desk. Even now, with the business of government returning to normal in most of the world, Putin conducts most domestic business via video.
What does the Kremlin say?
The Kremlin, via Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, has vehemently denied all claims that the Russian president is suffering from any serious health problem.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took the highly unusual step in an interview with French television channel TF1 in late May to deny Putin was ill, saying I don't think that sane people can see in this person signs of some kind of illness or ailment and claiming that the Russian leader appeared in public every day.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, ostracised by the West but a frequent face-to-face interlocutor with Putin, insisted in a March interview with Japanese television that the Russian leader was in rude health.
If you think that something is wrong with President Putin or something happened, you are, as we say, the most pitiful person on earth, he said.
In recent public appearances -- including a forum on Peter the Great and a meeting with Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdymukhamedov -- Putin has also shown no sign of physical frailty.
Why does it matter?
Putin remains the undisputed leader of Russia and most observers expect him to seek a third consecutive mandate in 2014, after recent controversial constitutional changes allowing him to do so.
There is no obvious successor and, as commander in chief of the Russian forces, it was the decision of Putin to invade Ukraine on February 24.
The country does not know a word of truth about the physical and emotional health of the person who runs it, said the editor-in-chief of Proekt, Roman Badanin.
The whole planet does not know if a person who could destroy all of humanity by pressing a red button is healthy.