A handshake between Vladimir Putin and a health expert has sparked ill rumours over his health as eagle-eyed viewers spotted bulging veins in his hands and unusual fist-clenching.
Putin, 73, met with Yekaterina Leshchinskaya, 22, the chair of the Russian Healthy Fatherland movement, to discuss the possibility of banning the sale of e-cigarettes in the country when the marks on his hands were noticed.
As the Russian leader reached to shake the woman’s hand, his right hand was seen with visible bulging veins, prominent tendons, and thin, wrinkled skin.
The clip suggests he may suffering from pain as he appeared to nervously move his fingers and clench them into a fist under his blazer sleeve.
Media personality Dmytro Gordon said: ‘Putin clenches his hands into something resembling fists.
‘They look swollen and sore, with veins bulging prominently on one hand.’
Others think that Putin merely exhibits the normal signs of male ageing which he seeks – through alleged cosmetic surgery – to hide from Russians after more than a quarter of a century in power.
