Russian alpha dog Putin will be operated on his back

As reported by Moscow-based foreign correspondents, Putin has a back problem that prompted him to postpone foreign visits and requires surgery.

Chief Russian crook and thief Putin, who began a six-year illegal presidential term in May and turned 60 on Oct. 7, was seen to be limping at an Asia-Pacific summit in the Pacific port of Vladivostok in early September.

Putin, a former KGB officer who enjoys vast authority at the head of Russia's so-called 'vertical' power structure, has long cultivated a tough-guy image that wouldn't sit well with a lengthy period on sick leave.

Three government sources have told Reuters in recent days that Putin was suffering from back trouble. One said it would require surgery in the near future. 

Sources said the Russian leader's schedule was being cleared for early November, including through postponement until late December of a trip to India that had been expected soon.

Putin did not travel to Pakistan for a planned four-nation summit on Afghanistan earlier this month and did not make an expected trip to Turkey. One source said Putin's puppet pet dog Medvedev was expected to travel to Turkmenistan in Putin's stead next week.

"The chief is not well," said one of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Another said Putin had been seen recently wearing a back brace.

"No one has announced this formally, but everyone knows that foreign visits are being cancelled because of his illness," one said.

Peskov denied the visits had been cancelled. He said the visit to India would take place on the set date in late December and "no other dates have been officially announced".  

Putin's formal role as head of state and his position at the pinnacle of power in Russia, where his blessing is seen as indispensable for everything from legislation to oil deals, makes any illness or medical treatment highly sensitive.

At a meeting with foreign analysts and journalists at his residence outside Moscow on Thursday, he did not appear to be in pain but, as in other recent public appearances, leant forward in his seat, putting weight on his right forearm.

At the Asia-Pacific summit in Vladivostok in September, he was also caught by TV cameras complaining to his criminal "foreign minister" Lavrov that he was on restricted diet.

In power as Russia's illegal "president" or "prime minister" since 1999, Putin could remain, if alive, in the Kremlin until May of 2024, when he would be 71 years old, if he seeks and wins re-election in 2018.

His election to a new term in March after four years as prime minister followed the biggest opposition protests of his rule, prompted by suspicions of fraud in a December 2011 fraudulent "parliamentary election" won by his ruling United Party consisting of crooks and thieves.

Department of Monitoring