International Women’s Day saw a different side of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A video clip showed Putin struggling to speak. The unedited video was shared on YouTube and shocked Russians to the core to see their leader in such a fragile state. Putin has ruled Russia with a heavy hand for decades, and his state of health has always been a guarded secret.
Meanwhile, the unedited video was shared on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel last week, but was quickly replaced with an edited, cleaned-up version, not too soon for the original clip to be shared on social media and go viral.
In the clip, Putin can be seen struggling to speak, while coughing and choking on his words. The footage from the International Women’s Day event shows him coughing, then pointing at his throat, and saying what can be roughly translated to “It’s sore” in English.
On the health front, in his 25-year rule over Russia, locals and international folk alike have seen the Russian President riding horseback with no shirt, playing ice hockey and other sports and enjoying photo ops while performing judo.
The Kremlin has published an unedited Putin’s 8th of March address to women. In the video, Putin is coughing and asks for another take.
Neither Putin’s administration nor journalists of the Kremlin’s circle noticed this episode and published the video on all social media.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 7, 2026
This led people to realize that Donald Trump’s friend, Vladimir, is aging and having problems, while stumbling over his own words. Putin’s spokesman played down the problem, calling it a “mistake.”
However, the Daily Beast contacted Vladimir Putin’s former advisor, a former lawmaker and corruption investigator about the leak and whether it was a mistake, they had a different answers. Reportedly, in Russia, there are several government agencies tasked with preventing any such mistakes, including the security services and the presidential administration.
“There are at least two Kremlin’s towers working on Putin’s public appearances; one information tower is under a long-time propaganda supervisor and the other is responsible for Putin’s image,” Ilya Shumanov, a board member of Transparency International Russia, told the the news website.
“It’s possible that the towers are at war, we’ve seen constant interagency tensions, arrests of senior bureaucrats, generals, military commanders. One tower might be demonstrating the other tower’s inability to control Putin,” he added.
Shumanov noted that Trump’s actions in Venezuela and Iran could have possibly made Vladimir Putin seem smaller and helpless in comparison. “It is a new world in which Putin does nothing to help his closest partners like Maduro and Khamenei, failing his responsibility,” Shumanov told the Daily Beast.
He noted that seeing Trump getting all the major headlines, and the Russian president never getting a mention is somewhat confusing. Meanwhile, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, almost admitted last week the effect the US president’s actions have on Putin. He told reporters, “We are rapidly losing the instruments of our propaganda abroad, especially in the neighboring countries.”
Clearly the leaked video also had a drastic effect on the Russian president, as he cancelled a trip, for meetings with Kazakh and Belarusian leaders planned from March 11 to 13. In fact, he has not been seen in public since March 8. Moreover, a previous video of a government meeting last week revealed his voice sounding weak and quiet.
While Putin’s health is suffering now, reportedly his popularity with Russian youth has been fading with only 18 percent of those under 24 approving of Putin’s presidency. According to a social study by the Levada Center, 46 percent of women disapprove of the Russian former tough guy.
“He is an elderly man demanding three babies from every young woman, but that does not boost the birth rate. Russia’s total fertility rate has fallen to approximately 1.37–1.41 children per woman this year,” according to Tatyana, an obstetrician in Moscow told the news outlet.
Meanwhile, Ivan Pavlov, a Russian attorney, wouldn’t be surprised if the person who released the clip soon faces treason charges. He and his department specialize in defending those accused of leaking state secrets, reportedly.
