What happens if Putin dies as Russian leader seen coughing and croaking

A new president very few would think of

Putin, 73, makes sure not to show any signs of weakness or illness in public, but an accidentally released video from this weekend begs to differ.

Putin is seen coughing and croaking which has fueled the speculations that he might have some deep-seated medical problem.

This isn't the first time there are rumours about his health, as in 2014, a claim surfaced that Putin had cancer and would be dead within six months at best, Dr Mark Galeotti, a historian and lecturer specialising in Russian crime and security affairs, writes in The i Paper.

Ever since, the historian adds, the catalogue of medical catastrophes that have variously been inflicted on him ranges from leprosy and Parkinson’s to blood cancer and complications from cosmetic surgery.

More recently, in 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speculated that Putin “will die soon”, while academic Valery Solovey also claimed that Putin had died.

As that story went, Putin had been stuffed into a freezer in one of his palaces.

And the Russian leader’s place, as per these claims, was taken by a body double reading lines written by a cabal of senior figures.

Putin is undoubtedly older and weaker, twelve years on from those rumours, as now there are suggestions of thyroid problems and recurring back problems.

However, according to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), he is in relatively good health.

They came to this conclusion after scrutinising each rumour and video clip in minute detail by medical experts.

But what happens if Putin dies in office?

While there is a constitutional process, with the prime minister stepping in as interim president and elections to take place within three months, in practice, as when dictator Stalin died in 1953, powerful figures and power blocs will probably gather behind closed doors to hash out a succession.

As this would be an exercise in horse-trading and coalition-building that would be likely to see the presidency pass to the next political generation, no one individual or institution currently has the power to take over.

The new president, depending on when this happens, might not be anyone to whom we currently pay much attention.

It may even simply be a figurehead for such a coalition, perhaps former presidential stand-in Dmitry Medvedev.

If Putin would presumably pick someone he feels would protect not only himself and his family but also his legacy, perhaps this would be some veteran of the security apparatus, like Alexei Dyumin, one of his bodyguards.