Footage shows Vladimir Putin reading notes in a Kremlin video which are written in very large print as the 72-year-old refuses to wear glasses despite faltering eyesight
Vladimir Putin appears to have trouble reading his own war script
Vladimir Putin has again been caught hiding his poor eyesight as he had trouble reading his own war script.
The warring Russian dictator refuses to wear glasses, and so needs giant-sized print on his notes as he addresses the nation or issues orders to his ministers. Now 72, he has reportedly used facial plastic surgery for years to blur the telltale signs of ageing.
But his eyesight is evidently not as good as it was – and the ex-KGB spy is periodically snared when brief glimpses of his texts are shown in large bold fonts. Putin refuses to wear spectacles in public “in order not to spoil his image”, according to one report.
This week he was shown in a likely pre-recorded 52-second Kremlin video of an online meeting with officials on money allocated for occupied naval port Sevastopol in Crimea.
Unusually, he put down his notes page by page showing the large text, in view of the camera. Only at the end did he seek to cover up the large script, gathering his papers in a way that hid the large writing.
Four years ago, a report in Top News said: “We can conclude that Putin does have problems with his vision, but [his officials] are simply carefully hiding it.” A Twitter post in 2019 highlighted that the problem is long-running. From the satirical account ‘Darth Putin’, it read: “I’m not getting old. I don’t need reading glasses. It’s normal to print speeches in 72 point bold!!!” Putin has been in power as Russian president or prime minister for more than a quarter of a century.
Meanwhile, Keir Starmer arrived in Kyiv with a pledge to help guarantee the country’s security for a century. The government said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sign a “100-Year Partnership” treaty in Kyiv covering areas including defence, science, energy and trade.
Sir Keir’s unannounced visit is his first trip to Ukraine since he took office in July. He visited the country in 2023 when he was opposition leader, and has twice held talks with Zelenskyy in London since becoming prime minister. The war will be three years old next month.
The Italian defence chief was also in Kyiv on Thursday, two days after Germany’s defence minister visited and three days after Zelenskyy talked by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron. The flurry of diplomatic activity came in the run-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration next Monday, which is expected to bring a departure from the outgoing US administration’s pledge to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russia.
Trump has also indicated he wants Europe to shoulder more of the burden for helping Ukraine. Sir Keir arrived at Kyiv railway station on a grey and frosty morning. “We’re a long way into this conflict,” he said. “We mustn’t let up.”
The UK, one of Ukraine’s biggest military backers, has pledged £12.8 billion in military and civilian aid since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago, and has trained more than 50,000 Ukrainian troops on British soil. Sir Keir is to announce another £40 million for Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery.
But the UK’s role is dwarfed by that of the United States, and there is deep uncertainty over the fate of American support for Ukraine once Trump takes office on January 20. The president-elect has balked at the cost of US aid to Kyiv, says he wants to bring the war to a swift end and is planning to meet Putin, for whom he has long expressed admiration.
