[DailyWire] A new U.S. classified intelligence report states that Russian President Vladimir Putin underwent treatment in April for advanced cancer.
The report also stated that an assassination attempt was made on Putin in March, after Putin had launched an invasion of Ukraine in late February.
“Putin’s grip is strong but no longer absolute,” one of three intelligence officers from three different intelligence agencies who read the report told Newsweek. “The jockeying inside the Kremlin has never been more intense during his rule, everyone sensing that the end is near.”
One official came from the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), one served as a senior officer for the Air Force, and one came from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
“What we know is that there is an iceberg out there, albeit one covered in fog,” the DNI officer stated.
The DIA officer added, “One source of our best intelligence, which is contact with outsiders, largely dried up as a result of the Ukraine war. Putin has had few meetings with foreign leaders. … Putin’s isolation has thus increased levels of speculation.”
Photos of Putin consistently sitting at the end of an extremely long table with the others at the meeting at the other end of the table have led to speculation regarding Putin’s health.
“Putin is definitely sick … whether he’s going to die soon is mere speculation,” the DIA official concluded. “Still, we shouldn’t rest assured. We shouldn’t answer our own mail, if you will, believing only the intelligence that affirms our own desired outcome. He’s still dangerous, and chaos does lie ahead if he does die. We need to focus on that. Be ready.”
Vladimir Putin's health is a subject of intense conversation inside the Biden administration after the intelligence community produced its fourth comprehensive assessment at the end of May. The classified U.S. report says Putin seems to have re-emerged after undergoing treatment in April for advanced cancer, three U.S. intelligence leaders who have read the reports tell Newsweek.
"We need to be mindful of the influence of wishful thinking," cautions the retired Air Force leader. "We learned—or didn't learn—that lesson the hard way with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein." |