Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied reports claiming that President Vladimir Putin will resign due to health conditions, and he has assured that the Russian leader is in good health.
On Friday, Russia’s TASS news agency reported Peskov’s response to whether the president was planning to quit. He said, “No,” and added that “He is in excellent health.”
The statement came after The Sun reported that Putin was planning to quit next year after showing possible signs of Parkinson’s disease.
A UK tabloid studied recent footage of Putin’s leg, where he appeared to be in constant pain and clutching his chair’s armrest. His leg was in motion, and his fingers seemed to be twitching while he held a cup that was believed to contain painkillers.
The report came after the lower house of Russia’s legislature proposed a law that could provide Russian ex-presidents immunity from criminal prosecution in their lifetimes.
This bill is one of the several introduced following the constitutional reforms, and among other things, allows Putin to run again when his term ends in 2024. The new bill will also make it difficult to revoke ex-presidents’ expanded immunity.
The house of Parliament would be required to vote to revoke it on the strength of accusations by the lower house if the president committed treason or any other serious crime.
The bill will become law if the lower house votes to approve it in three readings, the upper house backs it, and Putin then signs it.
In 2000 Putin was elected as Russia’s president; he has served longer than any Russian or Soviet politician since the early 1950s. Putin is currently on track to become one of the nation’s longest-serving leaders.
