Healthy living, science and an army of doctors: Putin’s pursuit of longevity | Vladimir Putin
IIt was Bond’s wicked fabric. Two aging autocrats, their youngest trailer ally expressed themselves in a ramp in red tapping before a military parade in Beijing when a hot micro took a question that seemed to be in their minds: how long could they continue – and, between the lines, could allow them to reign for ever?
With technological progress, the Vladimir Putin of Russia assured Xi Jinping via its translator according to which “human organs can be constantly transplanted, insofar as people can become younger, perhaps even immortal”.
The Chinese chief replied: “At the end of this century, people can live at 150.”
Nearby, Kim Jong -un of North Korea – three decades younger than the two 72 -year -old children – seemed to take note with a smile.
The hot moment of Beijing has sparked gossip on the conservation time of leaders and, inevitably, chatting on the way to the way where they will push to prevent the clock from exhausting.
For the moment, there is no sign that one of the three leaders intends to loosen their grip on power. Everyone seems ready to reign as long as their bodies holds, and none have offered a clear succession plan.
Under the constitutional changes he crossed in 2020, Putin could remain in power until 2036, when he will be 83 years old – even exceeding the mandate of Joseph Staline.
XI, through purges of allies and rivals, has torn the formerly written tradition of the Communist Party of Grooming Successors. In totalitarian North Korea, the succession has only been determined by death.
The motivation of leaders for longevity is nothing new. The leaders have long sought ways to stretch their lives and their rule.
The first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (259-210bc), sent expeditions to the mythical Mount Penglai in search of elixirs of eternal life – although the mercury offenses that he swallowed had his death accelerated.
Alexander the great legend has it, has traveled the “land of darkness”, a mythical and perpetually dark forest, in its quest for life in life.
Several centuries later, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy addressed the same problem with customary flamboyance – hair transplants, cosmetic surgery and blood treatments – in his attempt to appear invincible on the political stage.
Above the same time, Nursultan Nazarbayev, autocratic president of Kazakhstan, ordered an Astana institute to study “the rejuvenation of the organism”, human genome and genes based on genes.
“As for the medicine of the future, people my age really hope that all of this will happen as soon as possible,” pleaded Nazarbayev with local Kazakh scientists in 2010.
Berlusconi finally died at 86, after a battle with a routine pulmonary infection; Nazarbayev was put aside after troubles in Kazakhstan in 2022, his family swept power; He is now 85 years old.
Putin, who knew the two men well, seems to go further – continuing the most ambitious and most funded path to the longevity and the science of the extension of life.
The Russian chief has long been obsessed with health: he would count on his team of doctors and turns to alternative medicine in his quest for vitality.
But those who study it say that it is not only to remain healthy, it is a question of prolonging life itself.
“In his conversation with XI, Putin spoke of a subject that truly interests him,” said Mikhail Rubin, a Russian journalist who recently co-wrote a biography of the president.
“It is important to understand that even at the time of this exchange, there was almost certainly a whole team of doctors somewhere nearby,” he added.
According to Rubin, there is not much to indicate that Putin needs constant medical care; He seems healthy for his age, but always moves regularly with a large entourage of doctors of various specializations.
“This suggests that the Russian president is concerned about his health and his longevity,” said Rubin.
“I believe that Putin dreams of governing for many years and puts great hopes on the progression of modern medicine,” he added.
Putin has little secret of his fascination for prolonged life, and Wednesday showed no reluctance to repeat her private reflections on longevity during a press conference.
“Modern means and methods of improving health, even various surgicals [operations] Implying the replacement of organs, allow humanity to hope that … life expectancy will increase considerably, “Putin told journalists in Beijing.
Mikhail Kovalchuk, a long -standing friend of the family often described as Putin’s favorite scientist, would be the spearhead of Russia’s research on immortality.
According to the independent Outlet MEDUZA, Kovalchuk has created several institutes with millions of public funding to invest in new technologies, including the printing of organs with laboratory cultivated cells to create replacement bodies.
Putin’s eldest daughter, Maria Vorontova, a formed endocrinologist, has also received major government grants to study the extension of human health and longevity, and is involved in a genetic research program linked to Kovalchuk.
The quest for aging the elite of Russia for eternal life has already infiltrated the country’s pop culture.
It was the premise of a satirical novel in 2024 of the Russian writer Ivan Filippov, mouse, which tells the story of an infected rodent who escapes from a scientific institute where researchers develop a drug to prolong Putin’s life
“To be honest, I was not so surprised [about Putin’s hot mic comments]”Said Filippov to the Guardian.
“Because my story was born out of reality. And with Putin, it is obvious: it is practically obsessed with the idea of living forever, or at least longer that fate allows it,” he said.
“In my book, this obsession ends badly for everyone,” added Filippov.
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