Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday caused a mini flurry when netizens noticed his hands at a bilateral talk he co-partnered with Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel they slammed the Western sanctions and their common 'enemy', Washington.
Photos and videos circulating from the meeting show Putin's hands turning purple, reigniting the debate about his health. Putin was seen tightly gripping the arm of the chair during the talk.
The Russian leader was also seen moving his legs uncomfortably.
In early November, a similar social media buzz took place when photographs went viral of Putin's hands showing strange marks and black colour. Many users online claimed that it was an intravenous (IV) track mark.
Retired British army officer and member of the House of Lords Richard Dannatt concluded the blackness to be "a sign of injections going in when other parts of the body can't take injections."
In April, during a meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow, he had analysts concerned about a gesture, one where he is holding an end of the table that is separating the two men with his right hand and adopting a strange posture, causing netizens to think he has intestinal problems or even Parkinson.
A few months earlier, a US intelligence report had suggested that the Russian President may be suffering from an "advanced form of cancer". The assessment also said that the 70-year-old President survived an assassination attempt in March.
Putin's invasion of Ukraine has so far floundered. After more than eight months of war, Russia has suffered huge losses in men and equipment and been beaten back on several fronts within the past month as Putin's army has lurched from one humiliation to the next.
