Vladimir Putin was reportedly in need of “urgent medical assistance” this week.
The Russian president was said to have been struck down by “sharp sickness, weakness and dizziness” during a 90-minute virtual meeting with military bosses and has been told by doctors not to make any “lengthy” public appearances.
According to the General SVR channel on messaging app Telegram, the sudden illness was the real reason why Putin’s annual “Direct Line” live broadcast had been postponed with no plans in place to reschedule.
The Q and A session – which would see the politician take questions from Russian citizens – had been scheduled for later this month or early in July, but it is now unclear if it will ever happen at all.
General SVR said: “The postponement of the live (”Direct Line“) with the president indefinitely is due to the unstable health of Vladimir Putin.
“A week ago, the president was preparing to answer the questions of the Russian citizens in late June/early July.
“But his doctors advised him not to make any lengthy public appearances in the near future.
“The latest argument in favour of not speaking to the public was an incident after a recent one-and-a-half-hour video-link meeting with representatives of the military bloc…
“After the meeting Putin felt a sharp sickness, weakness and dizziness while trying to get up from the table.”
Despite the claims, the 69-year-old president made a rare public appearance in Moscow on Thursday when he addressed young entrepreneurs, engineers and scientists at an event marking the 350th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great.
He said in a speech: “What was (Peter) doing? Taking back and reinforcing. That’s what he did. And it looks like it fell on us to take back and reinforce as well.”
The General SVR channel claims to receive inside intelligence and has previously alleged that Putin has cancer and Parkinson’s disease.