The Russian President’s health has been source of considerable speculation amid reports that he is battling both abdominal cancer and Parkinson’s Disease.

But now it has been reported that 69-year-old Putin could soon go under the knife, with power transferred to Nikolai Patrushev.

Shadowy Patrushev, 70, is seen as a key architect of the Ukraine war strategy and the man who convinced Putin that Kyiv was awash with neo-Nazis.