Vladimir Putin may soon vanish for a period as he is due to undergo surgery linked to cancer, according to a new claim.
He has allegedly secretly nominated his hardline security council security secretary Nikolai Patrushev - a former KGB counterintelligence officer - to take “control” of Russia while he is incapacitated.
Shadowy Patrushev, 70, is seen as a key architect of the Ukrainian war strategy and the man who convinced Putin that Kyiv was awash with neo-Nazis.
