Russian President Vladimir Putin suffered "coughing fits" and "chest pains" that led to a delay in his live TV broadcast on Wednesday, claimed a British tabloid.
According to a report by the Mirror, who cited unnamed "sources," doctors were called in to attend to the Russian President, and therefore his broadcast was delayed by 13 hours.
The report, which the Mirror admits is based on "rumours," was apparently based on updates on Telegram channel General SVR.
The Telegram channel posted the following: "When the president came out and preparations for filming began, he began to cough frequently. Several attempts to start recording an appeal were frustrated due to coughing. After the fourth unsuccessful attempt to record an appeal, doctors were called to the president, to whom Putin also complained of chest pains.
"The doctors advised to postpone the shooting and leave with them for examination, which was done. There is an opinion of people from the president’s inner circle that Putin feigned a health problem in order to reschedule filming and rethink his decision-making."
Notably, the very same Telegram channel cited in the report has on multiple occasions made various claims about the Russian President's supposed ill health before. However, at least so far, Putin appears to be alive and well.
During his speech, Putin called up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine and said Moscow would respond with the might of all its vast arsenal if the West pursued what he called its "nuclear blackmail" over the conflict there.
During his address, the Russian President engaged in plenty of "nuclear blackmail" of his own, telling Western leaders that, "If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to defend Russia and our people, we will use all means we have. This is not a bluff."
