Putin’s Curtain Call?

Judoka and hunter, reviver of Russia’s international fortunes, conqueror of Crimea, meddler in American politics — and now, Parkinson’s patient?

When a British tabloid claimed this month that Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has ruled the Eurasian giant since 1999, was under pressure from his family to step down due to failing health, it made headlines worldwide.

Professor Valery Solovei, a Moscow-based political pundit, was quoted as saying that Putin’s daughters were pushing for him to hand over power in January because of a case of advancing Parkinson’s. The story was buttressed by claims that Putin, who has cultivated a macho image as leader, had recently been seen with a tell-tale tremor in the legs and his left arm pinned closely to his body. The report — only the latest in a string of stories about the Russian leader’s health — generated enough traction to merit a denial by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who dismissed it as “nonsense.”

The Kremlin’s response — backed up by Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, who told Mishpacha that in a recent meeting Putin was “relaxed and focused” — was echoed by Zvi Magen, a former Israeli ambassador to Russia and today a senior researcher for the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). “The source of the report is a known provocateur and has been used in the past by various parties with ulterior motives,” he said. “There’s no signs that he’s ill. But even if he is, that doesn’t mean he’s going to step down. No leader resigns because of a rumor of illness.”