Vladimir Putin is ‘constantly’ accompanied by a doctor who is a specialist in thyroid cancer, raising suspicions that the Russian leader may be ill.

Acclaimed surgeon Yevgeny Selivanov of Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital has reportedly seen the Russian president over 35 times in recent years.

Rumours regarding Putin’s health, which he has refused to comment on, have circulated after some branded him ‘bloated’ and ‘weakened’ in recent public appearances.

While the 69-year-old has presented himself as a ‘strong man leader’, his appearance has changed in recent years.

A series of clues appear to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have thyroid cancer or Parkinson’s Disease. Photo: Getty Images.

An investigation by Proekt media, which is blocked in Russia, claims that Putin is ‘constantly’ accompanied by Dr Selivanov, who specialises in thyroid cancer, when making public appearances.

There has been widespread speculation in the West that Putin had serious medical issues when he launched the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday February 24.

In November 2020, political analyst Valery Solovei spoke of rumours that Putin had cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Mr Solovei claimed the Russian president required emergency surgery to help treat his condition.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appearance has changed in recent years. (Photo by Mikhail Klimentyev / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

‘One is of psycho-neurological nature, the other is a cancer problem. If anyone is interested in the exact diagnosis, I’m not a doctor, and I have no ethical right to reveal these problems.

‘The second diagnosis is a lot, lot more dangerous than the first-named diagnosis as Parkinson’s does not threaten physical state, but just limits public appearances,’ he said.

According to Mr Solovei, it’s a ‘fatal diagnosis’ and that ‘people will be able to make a conclusion about his life horizon’ based on the information available.

Putin made no public appearances back in 2015. (Photo by Alexei NikolskyTASS via Getty Images)

The Proekt investigation found that surgeon Dr Alexey Shcheglov ‘follows Putin so relentlessly that during public events he allegedly gets into joint photographs with the head of state’.

Dr Shcheglov is seen as the doctor who ‘can be the first to detect problems with the thyroid gland, including oncological ones’.

The report found that Putin ‘publicly shown interest in the problem of thyroid cancer’ and met with the head of the National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology, Ivan Dedov in 2020.

Highlighting one incident with Putin in late 2021, the report said: ‘Standing in a crowd of people, Putin suddenly announced that he had to go into isolation because there were too many people around who were sick with the coronavirus. The news came as a surprise —  even to the president’s entourage.’

Putin’s troops are currently causing millions of Ukrainians to leave their homeland. (Sergey Guneev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

While it’s uncertain if he was ‘then undergoing some kind of medical manipulation’, once COVID began he ‘ began to communicate with people at a very great distance’. He holds all his meetings at a long marble table, speaking at a distance to anyone he meets.

Putin has disappeared from view on medically related absences on five separate occasions, the report states.

Rumours of Putin’s health struggles date back to 2012, when he cancelled a number of business trips and interviews. In 2015 he didn’t make any public appearances and used pre recorded interviews to address Russia for a year.

The rumours of Putin’s health issues arrive as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues to drive millions Ukrainians out of the country.