Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to walk with a limp as he attended Russia’s major Vostok war games on Tuesday, raising fresh doubts over his health, Daily Mail reported.

The Russian leader, 69, observed the major military exercises from inside a command post while sitting next to his defence minister Sergei Shoigu who is said to have been ‘sidelined’ by Putin due to Russia’s heavy losses in Ukraine.

As Putin arrived at the command post at the Sergeyevsky training range in Russia’s Far East, he appeared to be walking with a limp when he crossed the room to watch the war games, Daily Mail reported.

Video shows Putin walking stiffly across the room and he appears to hesitate before stepping down to reach a set of chairs.

It comes just a day after Putin’s legs were seen twitching uncontrollably while giving a rambling speech in front of young Russians, Daily Mail reported.

Questions about Putin’s health have been circulating for some time in Russia with some suggesting he has cancer or Parkinson’s and he has regularly disappeared for days at a time amid claims he is undergoing surgery.

The rumours gained such traction that the Kremlin was forced to go on record and deny them, with Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisting the Russian leader was in ‘excellent health’ and any rumour to the contrary was ‘complete nonsense’.

In recent months, he has been seen hobbling off a plane in Iran with a limp arm and twisting his foot in a meeting with Belarus dictator Lukashenko in May.

And this week, Putin was seen speaking to schoolchildren while twitching his legs and firmly gripping an armrest.

Shaking is one of the main symptoms of Parkinson’s – a condition that Hitler is thought to have suffered from towards the end of the Second World War, Daily Mail reported.

On Tuesday, he was seen limping across the room and looking ill at ease as he stepped down to sit down in a chair.

–IANS

san/uk

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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