Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday denied claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin is affected by a severe sickness.

Lavrov mentioned Putin's well being throughout an interview with the French tv station TF1. Whereas a lot of the speak centered round Russia's warfare in Ukraine, TF1 reporter Liseron Boudoul requested the Kremlin's high diplomat about unconfirmed studies that Putin could also be sick.

Hypothesis in regards to the chief's well being predates the Ukrainian invasion. In 2020, the British tabloid The Solarurged Putin might have each most cancers and Parkinson's illness, although the claims have been unverified. Speak of Putin being sick additional intensified since he ordered his army to assault Ukraine in late February.

Social media customers and a few media shops have mentioned nonetheless photos and movies of Putin the place he seems shaky or tense. One well-liked clip shared broadly on the net exhibits Putin tightly gripping a desk whereas assembly with Russia's protection minister Sergei Shoigu earlier this 12 months. Such movies have led some to consider the president has Parkinson's illness, however some medical specialists have dismissed that declare. Different shops and Russian specialists have stated Putin might have most cancers or is in any other case terminally sick.

"I do not suppose that sane folks can see on this particular person indicators of some type of sickness or ailment," Lavrov stated when requested about Putin's well being.

Vladimir Putin is seen during a meeting
A high Kremlin official on Sunday denied Russian President Vladimir Putin is affected by a severe sickness. On this photograph, Putin is seen throughout a gathering with U.N. Secretary-Common on the Kremlin in Moscow on April 26, 2022.Picture by VLADIMIR ASTAPKOVICH/SPUTNIK/AFP through Getty Photographs

Lavrov additionally stated Putin, who turns 70 in October, "seems in public each day."

He continued, "You possibly can watch him on screens, learn and hearken to his speeches."

The Kremlin beforehand denied Putin was in sick well being in March. Talking to the Related Press at the moment, Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, stated Putin's well being was "actually excellent."

Nonetheless, Christopher Steele, a former British secret service official, instructed Sky Information in a Could 15 story that Putin is "fairly critically sick."

"It is not clear precisely what this sickness is—whether or not it is incurable or terminal, or no matter. However actually, I believe it is a part of the equation," Steele instructed the British information channel.

Steele's feedback got here a day after Sky Information reported Ukrainian Main Common Kyrylo Budanov claimed Putin had most cancers and presumably different sicknesses.

Whereas insisting that he wasn't merely spreading propaganda, Budanov stated to Sky Information that Putin is in a "very unhealthy psychological and bodily situation, and he's very sick."

Lavrov tried to dispel such claims when talking with TF1.

"I go away it to the conscience of those that unfold such rumors regardless of on a regular basis alternatives to ensure who and what they appear to be," Lavrov stated.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Overseas Ministry for remark.