“This year he looks better. Probably last year it was due to the shock that his army turned out to be a paper tiger.
“Now he seems to have learned to control himself, maybe with the help of drugs. I don’t know.”
Mr Gallyamov’s comments come after unconfirmed rumors swirled claiming Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest.
The Kremlin quickly denied the rumors and Putin has since appeared in public.
The health scare story originated from a Telegram account that said: “Attention! There is currently an attempted coup in Russia! Russian President Vladimir Putin died this evening at his residence in Valdai. At 20.42 Moscow time, doctors stopped resuscitation and pronounced death.
“Now the doctors are blocked in the room with Putin’s corpse, they are being held by members of the presidential security service on the personal orders of Dmitry Kochnev who is in touch and receives instructions from the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev.
“Security for the president’s double has been beefed up. Active negotiations are underway. Any attempt to pass off a double as the president after Putin’s death is a coup.”
Dismissing the claims, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “These [kinds of stories] belong to the category of fake news, discussed with enviable tenacity by a number of media outlets. This brings nothing but a smile [in the Kremlin].
“Perhaps you have heard that Putin has multiple doubles, who work instead of him while he is sitting inside a bunker.
“This is yet more lies. This is one more lie. You see our president. He is just as he used to be, mega-active.”
An independent Russian media outlet reported in April 2022 that Putin could have cancer because he allegedly travels with an oncologist and other medical specialists.
Putin and the Kremlin have always denied that the Russian President has any health problems.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still rumbling on over a year and a half from the start of the invasion in February 2022.
Putin’s forces have not achieved any of their key objectives as both sides struggle to make substantial gains.
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