Questions about Putin's health resurfaced in Russia on 8 March after Vladimir Putin was shown coughing through an unedited televised message recorded for International Women's Day, forcing the Russian president to stop and begin again.
The footage landed after earlier claims by investigative journalists that Putin has travelled with a thyroid cancer specialist surgeon, and after separate suggestions from Ukrainian authorities that someone on the inside may have deliberately allowed damaging material to slip out. None of that proves illness. What can be confirmed from the source is narrower and more awkward for the Kremlin. Putin coughed, his voice sounded rough, and the wrong version briefly made it to air.
