An insider with the Russian intelligence services added the following in an email to The Sun: “I can affirm that he has early-stage Parkinson’s disease, but the condition is already worsening. This information will be concealed and denied in every manner imaginable.

“Putin regularly receives a variety of powerful steroids and cutting-edge painkilling injections to stem the progression of pancreatic cancer, which was just discovered to be his illness.

“In addition to the severe discomfort it causes, Putin also experiences side effects like facial puffiness and memory loss. There are whispers in his inner circle that Putin not only has pancreatic cancer, which is slowly progressing, but also prostate cancer.”

General SVR reported: “Both Putin himself and his relatives, as well as doctors, are worried about the president’s coughing fits, as well as constant nausea and lack of appetite due to medication and a specific diet [for] oncology.

“In the past few months, Putin has lost eight kilograms, and those around the president are worried that the thinness and persistent cough that is noticeable in progress will be regarded by the elites as a sign of the leader’s rapidly deteriorating health.”

They also claimed that the Russian leader had “an attack of severe coughing” during a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

“After Shoigu was removed from the video conference, Putin began speaking with other members of the military bloc’s leadership, but he was unable to do so due to a severe coughing attack, forcing the meeting to be terminated and the president to seek medical attention,” they claimed.

The Russian president was seen trembling violently earlier this year when he met with Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, in Moscow.

He also looked too limp at about the same time, in April, as he walked in Moscow with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

A month later, during a meeting of the Russian security council, critics alleged that the Russian president appeared “bloated.”