Pelosi says ‘bully’ Putin could have ‘brain fog’ and Russia is ‘paying price’ for Ukraine invasion

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she’s heard speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin has cancer or brain fog from Covid-19, but also that he could just be a ‘raging bully.’ 

However, she seemed to throw cold water on the idea that the Russian leader was mentally deteriorating based on meetings she’s had with world leaders.  

‘I have met with some heads of state who have met with him [Putin] and they just take it at face value the evil he is putting forth as something that we have to deal with. They’re not making a diagnosis of his health,’ Pelosi, D-Calif., said in an appearance on MSNBC. 

‘Some people say he has cancer, and some people say brain fog from COVID. Other people just think he’s a complete raging bully. But whatever it is, the people of Ukraine are paying the price for it.’  

‘This is highly unacceptable to civilized human behavior, for Putin to go in there and attack civilian sites, to make up stories about them,’ she continued. ‘You would hope that there would be someone in Russia who would be a check on him.’ 

‘I have met with some heads of state who have met with him [Putin] and they just take it at face value the evil he is putting forth as something that we have to deal with. They’re not making a diagnosis of his health,’ Pelosi, D-Calif., said in an appearance on MSNBC

Pelosi also told MSNBC she would not be wearing a mask to President Biden’s State of the Union Tuesday night, after the White House ended its mask mandate and the CDC eased its mask recommendations for those in areas of ‘low’ and ‘medium’ risk. 

The speaker said she would wear a mask if she had a young child or a pre-existing condition. Per the CDC, Pelosi is far more at risk to an adverse Covid reaction than a young child.  

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned Putin’s mental fitness on Twitter this week.

‘I wish I could share more, but for now I can say it’s pretty obvious to many that something is off with Putin,’ Rubio said. 

‘He has always been a killer, but his problem now is different and significant. It would be a mistake to assume this Putin would react the same way he would have 5 years ago.’

Rubio added that Putin, 69, ‘appears to have some neuro/psychological issue.’  

‘But most telling is this is a man who has long prided himself on emotional control. His recent flashes of anger is very uncharacteristic and show an erosion in impulse control.’

The Florida Republican also tweeted on Sunday: ‘Let me stress again that we are NOT dealing with 2008 Putin.’

Meanwhile Trump’s former former National Security Adviser, Lt Gen HR McMaster, told CBS’ Face the Nation that Putin is no longer a ‘rational actor’ because he is ‘fearful’ in his quest to hold on to power. 

‘I think he knows all of that is at risk,’ McMaster said.  

Putin has been largely isolated from the outside world for the past two years as officials tried to keep him safe from Covid-19, and some have questioned whether his extensive time alone has impacted his mental state. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told ABC’s George Stephanapoulos on Sunday: ‘He’s obviously been quite isolated during Covid. But I will tell you, certainly the rhetoric, the actions, the justification that he’s making for his actions are certainly deeply concerning to us.’ 

At the start of the pandemic, he went to extraordinary lengths to avoid catching the virus during a hospital visit, donning a full hazmat suit at Russia’s main coronavirus clinic.

But on the whole, the President has stayed decidedly out of the public eye during the Covid-19 crisis, with officials and journalists having to self-isolate before meeting the president. 

Last year, Russian Olympic medalists invited to meet with president were told they would need to spend a week in quarantine before the meeting went ahead. 

And in September, it emerged Putin had entered self-isolation after a member  of his entourage contracted Covid-19 despite extensive precautions.

The Russian president abandoned a scheduled trip to Tajikistan, did not campaign in person for parliamentary elections, and held meetings with foreign counterparts on tables that were several metres long, sparking widespread ridicule on social media.  

He has been fully vaccinated with the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V – receiving his second jab in April.      

Vladimir Putin has in recent days hidden his family members in an ‘underground city’ in Siberia, according to a Russian professor.

The luxury hi-tech bunker is located in the Altai Mountains and was designed for protection in the event of nuclear war, said political scientist Valery Solovey, 61.

Formerly a professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) – attended by future top diplomats and spies, Solovey has previously alleged Putin suffers medical problems hidden from the Russian public, and has taken part in bizarre secret shamanic rituals alongside his defence minister Sergey Shoigu.

Some in Moscow dismiss Solovey as a conspiracy theorist or hoaxer, but just last week he was interrogated for seven hours by Russian authorities due to allegations he made about Putin’s medical and mental condition on a Telegram site he operates.  

His home was also searched and multiple electronic items were seized. Solovey was subsequently released but the case is not closed. 

The claim comes as Russia pounds Kyiv and Kharkiv with missile strikes, leading to accusations that Putin is committing war crimes by deploying devastating cluster bombs on helpless civilians.

The luxury hi-tech bunker supposedly housing Putin’s family is located in the Altai Mountains and was designed for protection in the event of nuclear war, said political scientist Valery Solovey, 61 (pictured)

Solovey has previously alleged Putin (pictured last week) suffers medical problems hidden from the Russian public, and has taken part in bizarre secret shamanic rituals alongside his defence minister Sergey Shoigu

Altayskoye Podvorie resort, built by Gazprom, in the Altai Mountains. The resort allegedly contains one of Putin’s personal dachas

Solovey alleges that Putin’s family have been moved to a huge underground bunker buried in the Altai Mountains (Altayskoye Podvorie resort pictured)

‘At the weekend, President Putin’s family was evacuated to a special bunker prepared in case of nuclear war,’ said the professor in a video. ‘This bunker is located in the [mountainous] Altai Republic. ‘In fact, it is not a bunker, but a whole underground city, equipped with the latest science and technology.’ (Altai mountains pictured)

Solovey’s claim comes as Russia pounds Kyiv and Kharkiv with missile strikes, leading to accusations that Putin is committing war crimes by deploying devastating cluster bombs on helpless civilians (pictured: Kharkiv’s administrative centre after it was shelled on March 1, 2022)

Rescuers are seen in a building, which city officials said was damaged by a missile, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout picture released today, March 1

‘At the weekend, President Putin’s family was evacuated to a special bunker prepared in case of nuclear war,’ said the professor in a video.

‘This bunker is located in the [mountainous] Altai Republic.

‘In fact, it is not a bunker, but a whole underground city, equipped with the latest science and technology.’

He warned: ‘I hope this means something to you? That the President sends his family to this bunker?’

Solovey, who claims to have insider contacts in the Kremlin, is believed to be referring to a sprawling mountain dacha built ostensibly by energy behemoth Gazprom around a decade ago in the Ongudaysky district of the Altai Republic, a region of Siberia bordering Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan.

Observers have noted multiple ventilation points in the grounds surrounding the mountain hideout, and a high voltage line linked to an ultra-modern 110 kilovolt substation, enough to power a small city.

During construction, vast German tunnel diggers were reported to have been at the site.

Solovey did not identify the family members of Putin supposedly sent to the bunker, but has previously alleged that Olympic Gold-winning rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 38, is the Russian leader’s secret spouse.

‘This is his real family, and Alina is capable of influencing his decisions,’ he said last year. 

Solovey did not identify the family members of Putin supposedly sent to the bunker, but has previously alleged that Olympic Gold-winning rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 38, is the Russian leader’s secret spouse (undated photo of Putin and Kabaeva at the Kremlin)

Putin has two adult daughters Maria Vorontsova, 36, a geneticist, and Katerina Tikhonova, 35, a dancer-turned-mathematician.

He is also reported to have a daughter named Luiza Rozova, a 18-year-old heiress also known as Elizaveta Krivonogikh, from a previous relationship with cleaner-turned-multimillionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45, now a part-owner of a major Russian bank.

Unconfirmed rumours denied by the Kremlin say he also has children with Kabaeva.

Putin has previously said: ‘I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.’

He deplored ‘those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives’.

Kabaeva is on record as saying she had met an unnamed man who ‘I love very much’, gushing: ‘Sometimes you feel so happy that you even feel scared.’

The claimed move of his family to the bunker came with a ‘failure’ of Putin’s strategic plan to conquer Ukraine, said Solovey. 

‘This is his real family, and Alina is capable of influencing his decisions,’ Solovey said last year (Kabaeva pictured in 2018)

Putin has two adult daughters Maria Vorontsova, 36 (pictured centre), a geneticist, and Katerina Tikhonova, 35, a dancer-turned-mathematician.

Putin had been hit by ‘extremely strong, united and very negative reaction of the collective West regarding Russian plans’.

‘Putin had planned to declare the complete and indisputable military victory of Russian troops on the evening of Sunday, 27 February – and announce the end, or the near end of the so-called ”special operation,” Solovey said.

‘As you know, not a single target of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine was reached.’

Accounts of Russian losses following the invasion of Ukraine veer between 700 and a Ukrainian claim of 4,500 in the initial days of fighting.

Russia claims to have hit 1,146 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities including 31 command points and communications centres, 81 S-300 air defence bases, plus Buk M-1 and Osa air defence missile systems, and 75 radar stations.

‘A total of 311 tanks other armoured military vehicles, 42 airplanes and helicopters (including some on the ground), 51 multiple launch rocket systems, 147 field artillery weapons and mortars, and 263 specialised military vehicles have been destroyed,’ said Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

But there have been widespread reports that Russian units have been successfully repelled by Ukrainian forces, with Russian authorities attempting to cover up the number of casualties their ranks have sustained. 

One of Solovey’s more startling claims was that defence minister Shoigu arranged for Putin to attend a shamanic ritual in Siberia which involved the sacrifice of a black wolf in a rite to improve the president’s health.

Shoigu is currently in personal control of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

One of Solovey’s more startling claims was that defence minister Shoigu (pictured Feb 2022) arranged for Putin to attend a shamanic ritual in Siberia which involved the sacrifice of a black wolf in a rite to improve the president’s health

Solovey has suggested in the past hat Putin (pictured) was suffering from early stage Parkinson’s disease, and that he has a secret life-threatening illness, but has not produced proof for his assertions

‘A piece of white fabric was soaked with the wolf’s blood and burned,’ said anonymous Telegram channel ‘General SVR’ linked to Solovey in September 2021.

‘They allegedly saw a black raven in the smoke that circled for a long time.

‘For some reason, this sign was explained to Putin as a great success.’

Quizzed over his claims that Putin had a serious illness – something which has been strongly denied by the Kremlin – Solovey said: ‘I do not use the expression ‘terminally ill’ and I have never used it.

‘I use a euphemism: personal circumstances of compelling force.’

He has suggested in the past Putin was suffering from early stage Parkinson’s disease, and that he has a secret life-threatening illness, but has not produced proof for his assertions.