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Ex-British MI6 chief predicts: Putin will 'be gone by 2023' due to health issues

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, predicted in an interview Thursday (May 19) that President Vladimir Putin will no longer be the leader of Russia by 2023 due to health issues. His comments came amid ongoing speculation about Putin's health, even though the Kremlin has not publicly commented about it since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Dearlove said during the One Decision podcast: "I think he'll be gone by 2023, but probably into the sanatorium."
He added that that Putin, who is 69 years old, will not emerge as the "leader of Russia" anymore after coming out of the medical facility. "That's a way to sort of move things on without a coup."
During his interview, the Newsweek reported that Dearlove also predicted that the Russian regime might "break apart" over the next 12 to 18 months due to the West's sanctions imposed on the country, the war in Ukraine, and Russia's current military performance.

Earlier this week, U.S. film director Oliver Stone said that the Russian president has already struggled with and overcome cancer during the time in which the filmmaker focused his work on the Russian president.
Stone said without specifying the type of cancer he had: "Remember this, Mr. Putin has had this cancer and I think he's licked it."
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The British radio station LBC reported Saturday (May 21) that the American director, who is known for famous films including JFK, Scarface, and Platoon, had multiple interviews with Putin from 2015 to 2017 on a variety of topics. However, Stone has not met Putin for three years, according to TDPel Media.
Christopher Steele, a former intelligence official in the U.K., recently made similar comments, saying that Putin left meetings to receive medical treatments.
"Meetings of the security council that are shown to supposedly last for a whole hour are actually broken up into several sections," Steele, who served in the MI6 intelligence office, said during an interview with LBC Radio. "[Putin] goes out and receives some kind of medical treatment between those sections," he mentioned.
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He added that Putin is "constantly accompanied around the place by a team of doctors," however, he didn't explain the basis of his speculation, but claimed "it's certainly having a very serious impact on the governance of Russia at the moment."
He said: "There's increasing disarray in the Kremlin and chaos, in fact, that there's no clear political leadership coming from Putin, who is increasingly ill."
Meanwhile, Visegrád 24 News posted a video on Twitter last month speculating that the Russian president might have Parkinson's Disease.
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Visegrád 24 News tweeted: "This is probably the clearest video of something being wrong with Putin's health. Look at his leg and hand tremors! Any doctor out there willing to weigh in? Parkinson?"
The Newsweek noted that one video also showed Putin gripping a table during a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, prompting social media users to question his health.
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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