Putin health fears as despot mocked over 'haggard' Victory Day appearance

Vladimir Putin is facing a torrent of ridicule over his haggard and hollow appearance as concerns about the Russian dictator's health continue to mount. Reportedly terrified of a coup or assassination at the hands of Ukraine , he was labelled a "deeply frightened, aging dictator" by Russian adversary Mikhail Khodorkovsky following his Victory Day appearance in Moscow. Ukrainian commentator Anton Gerashchenko drew attention to an unflattering photograph of the 73-year-old former spy and his swollen cheeks, writing: "The face of a 'victor' and the leader of a 'superpower'. It seems sanctions have even reached Putin's Botox". Observers noted a lopsided, pillow-like face, lumpy filler, mismatched cheeks, and a melting wax face. Monitoring group Crimean Wind stated: "History shows that many dictators visibly aged before the fall of their regime or their death. Scientists link this to chronic stress, paranoid fear of losing power, and isolation, which accelerate the body's aging." Putin opponent Leonid Nevzlin viewed the "shrinking" parade — which featured no military hardware for the first time in almost two decades — as a telling symbol of Putin's loosening grip on power. He said: "The regime is structured so that the question of its future has turned into the question of one old man's health. Not about elections, not about political course, not about a split in the elites." "About a cardiogram, about the appearance of decrepit hands. These are the only places where change is still possible in the country. For this body, like any other, has a deadline." Never before have security personnel surrounded Putin quite so tightly, he said. "You can search for comparison with parades of previous years. "Security is always there, that's protocol, but there has never been such hovering. Either Putin himself is afraid, or he's being wound up and intimidated this way - which causes him to become fearful and paranoid." He appears "alone and isolated" inside his security bubble. This came as figures for the past month revealed Putin has lost 7,480 personnel - killed, wounded, and captured - over the first week of May. This amounts to one loss every 80 seconds.