Vladimir Putin retched and spluttered during a meeting televised in Russia yesterday as rumours spiral that his is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
The Russian leader appeared dazed and bloated as he spoke with Sergey Chemezov, a former KGB general and CEO of state-owned military hardware company Rostec.
In the footage broadcast on Russian state TV, the president can be seen with his chin resting on his chest and his hands holding the table as he talked with the defence giant.
At various point in the clip, he is also seen retching and struggles to find his words, the Mirror reports.
It comes as speculation grows that the 69-year-old has been diagnosed with cancer and is receiving treatment.
Last week, a secret recording of a conversation between a Putin-aligned oligarch and a Western businessman revealed the despot is "very ill with blood cancer".
Publicly the Kremlin has stated that Putin is fit and well but his strict precautions during the pandemic and use of a long table to meet other political leaders have strengthened rumours.
But recent appearances in which his hands are seen spasming uncontrollably, or today's clip of him sputtering, suggest otherwise.
And his decision to have waged war in Ukraine may have been due to a cancer-related cognitive impairment, an oncologist has claimed.
In the latest of many claims about the ill-health of the Kremlin leader, reports suggest he is suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy and steroid treatment.
Other reports suggest Putin is suffering from Parkinson's or early-stage dementia, but numerous experts believe he may have started cancer treatment before the war began, and so he is suffering from the effects of chemotherapy.
The condition is officially called cancer-related cognitive impairment and causes the patient to "lose focus" and struggle to remember simple things.
It can also give people the ability to make "crazy" decisions without cogently thinking them through.
An ex-Brit spy also believes Putin's decision-making in Ukraine has been affected by an illness.
Christopher Steele, who ran the Russia desk at MI6 in London between 2006 and 2009 and worked there in the 1990s, said he had heard the president was not well.
He told Sky News: "Certainly, from what we're hearing from sources in Russia and elsewhere, is that Putin is, in fact, quite seriously ill.
"It's not clear exactly what this illness is - whether it's incurable or terminal, or whatever. But certainly, I think it's part of the equation."
And Steele's comments came after a Ukrainian general echoed the rumour while adding a plan is already underway in Russia to oust him.
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