• The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin is in good health, dismissing what it called false reports that he was ill.
• Putin coughed during a public appearance on Wednesday, when he was quoted as saying he had caught a cold.
• He has also appeared to walk stiffly at times.

LONDON, 21 JULY – On Thursday, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin was in good health, dismissing what it called false reports that he was ill.

“Everything is fine with his health,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during his daily press briefing.

“You know that in recent months, Ukrainian information specialists, as well as American and British ones, have been throwing out various fakes about the president’s health – these are nothing but fakes,” he added.

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Putin coughed during a public appearance on Wednesday, when he was quoted by Interfax as saying he had caught a slight cold while visiting Iran the day before.

“It was 38 degrees Celsius in Tehran yesterday, and the air conditioning was on full blast. So please accept my apologies “Putin, who is 69 years old, was quoted as saying.

In recent months, international scrutiny of his health has increased, including when he was photographed meeting with foreign and Russian officials while seated at opposite ends of long tables as a precaution against COVID. He has also appeared to walk stiffly at times.

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Since launching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, he has maintained a full schedule of meetings and calls, including two foreign trips in the last month.

On Wednesday, CIA Director William Burns was asked about the issue at a security forum in the United States, and he said Putin was “entirely too healthy.”