Lately, Vladimir Putin seems increasingly out of touch with reality.
Anyone can make a mistake a couple of times. But the number of such factual errors is growing. At times, you get the impression that the man lives in a world of fantasies he does not think to check. And we are talking about a man who holds all power in the country.
Here is what we see:
Orcas hunting polar bears. Putin tells a story about orcas attacking polar bears in packs and tearing them apart. I am not against vivid metaphors, but they still have to be based on facts.
The Oreshnik missile and the Tunguska meteorite. He compares the missile’s kinetic impact to a falling meteorite, invokes Tunguska and talks about impacts that formed entire lakes. Someone brought him this nonsense, and he repeated it.
Naryshkin at the Security Council. At the meeting immediately before the war, he presses Naryshkin to speak plainly and challenges his hesitant “I will support” with the demand to say whether he supports the proposal. We remember how afraid Naryshkin was.
The name of Kazakhstan’s president. Putin repeatedly gets Tokayev’s name and patronymic wrong. They are not simple, but not so difficult that he could not have learnt them after so many attempts.
Not using the internet. He does not use the internet and gets his information about the world from those familiar briefing folders. Being proud of that is like being proud of not using electricity or running water—especially when the internet is a principal means of checking facts.
Military successes in “Komsomolsk”. He describes fighting and Russian military advances in a non-existent Ukrainian city called Komsomolsk. Buildings have supposedly been taken, and the advance continues.
Confusing the Oskil River with Stary Oskol. He describes Ukrainian troops almost surrounded on the left bank of a river he calls “Stary Oskol”—the name of a Russian city. Of course, anyone can confuse a name or misread it. But his strength used to be precisely his sharp memory and attention to detail.
A prepared interview cut after publication. He gives an interview to his chief propagandist, visibly reading his answers from a teleprompter. The interview is published, then the Kremlin’s version is shortened by around six minutes—almost a quarter. The reporting establishes the reading and the cuts, but does not establish that difficulty reading caused the edits.
Coughing during a recorded greeting. An unedited recording appears online showing him coughing and complaining of an irritated throat. He says he has spoken a great deal that day. There is nothing abnormal about this. But selling himself as untouched by time is becoming harder.
A public “hurrah” removed from the official footage. His garbled cheer was omitted from the versions published by the Kremlin and state television.
The disappearing ice-swimming footage. The Kremlin claims that he continues taking his Epiphany plunge, but stops providing photographs or video. It first showed him taking part in 2018. There would be no question if it had never shown these swims. But it did.
Long absences covered by prerecorded appearances. He disappears from public view for extended periods while previously recorded footage creates the appearance of work. Nearly identical offices in different residences make it look as though he is at the same desk every day.
Kursk, fuel shortages and burning refineries. These are problems the whole country discusses. Yet, to my eye, he often seems not to notice them. That is my assessment of his public response; the events themselves are documented.
Elephants from Laos during an attack on a Moscow refinery. On the day of a major drone attack on the Moscow oil refinery, he publicly discusses elephants from Laos.
Periods of almost no travel around Russia. He goes through long periods without regional visits. When he resumes travelling, he largely avoids regions of European Russia within range of Ukrainian drones. His concern for his own safety increasingly shapes his movements.
His old displays of courage. Submarines, flights with Siberian cranes, dives for amphorae: everyone understood that these were staged, but the image was there. To my eye, today’s Putin is unwilling to accept even the minimal risk needed for such performances.
Secret bunkers and years of quarantine requirements. He spends long periods in bunkers. For years, people had to quarantine before meeting him. The requirement was shortened over time and was finally lifted in early 2026.
I do not want to indulge in ageism. I am no young man myself. Taken separately, there is nothing criminal or frightening in these things. Putin has not lost his mind or become senile and, for his age, is in reasonably good shape. Were he an ordinary man, I would say he had long years of retirement and fishing ahead of him.
The problem is that Putin is not a pensioner. Nor is he simply the president of a nuclear power. He has concentrated all power, all authority, every lever of government in his own hands. He personally makes the key decisions and personally maintains the balance of interests between all the elite groups.
Such a system is harmful and inefficient. It also demands enormous work and nervous strain from its sole leader. Brezhnev had the Politburo to back him up—a real, not decorative, collective governing body. The institutions that could provide Putin with a safeguard or share responsibility no longer exist.
The cost of a mistake here is much higher than for a pensioner out fishing. That makes us look differently at his mistakes, slips of the tongue, fantastic stories and declining attention and capacity for work.
The health and cognitive abilities of a man on whom questions of war and peace depend, and who periodically threatens everyone with a nuclear strike, are not a matter of idle curiosity. They are a matter of legitimate public interest.
I think Putin has long needed to retire. But there seems to be nobody who can tell him. He himself does not realise it—and is unlikely ever to do so.
Thank you for this! I think Trump is in the same leaky boat.
Also no sign of a succession plan, although whoever they eventually put forward will have to first pledge allegiance to VVP