Vladimir Putin's special guards are tasked with the unpleasant job of packaging up his excrement and putting it in briefcases to be taken home during visits to foreign countries, it is reported
Vladimir Putin’s elite guards have been quietly bringing home his poo on foreign trips without causing a stink - fueling rumours he has a hidden illness.
The Russian president has cultivated the image of a virile and macho leader over the years who would be seen out hunting or riding horses bare-backed.
But in recent months he has looked more frail and possibly puffy in the face, which some have suggested is down to steroid use for an illness.
At Russia ’s Victory Day parade in Moscow last month, Putin even used a blanket to keep himself warm, unlike others around him.
And now news that Putin’s excrement is brought home when he is on foreign trips has led to speculation it could be so Western powers don’t find out from his toilet visit any evidence of illness.
The regime’s Federal Protection Service is tasked with the unpleasant job of collecting his faeces and keeping it under armed guard, claimed Paris Match, citing veteran Russian reporters.
The poo is allegedly packaged up and put into a briefcase for a safe return back to Russia.
In fact this is not new and, for example, took place when Putin went to France in May, 2017, or Saudi Arabia, in 2019, reported the magazine.
And former BBC reporter Farida Rustamova has tweeted that Putin travels with a portable toilet.
She tweeted: “My source who is an old acquaintance of Putin's told me that the practice of taking his toilet to foreign trips has been around for years, and the Russian leader has been doing this since the beginning of his rule.
"While traveling around Russia, Putin's guards have the option of clearing used facilities if needed; it is not convenient to do so abroad."
Claims that special care has been taken over Putin's poo since the start of his regime could go against speculation that any possible illness is new.
Ms Rustamova also told other security procedures that take place to ensure no attempt is made to poison him.
She tweeted: "The source also revealed that if at any event Putin, say, drinks from a cup other than his (although at least in recent years Putin has mostly been drinking only from his famous thermos mug), his guards make sure no one takes that cup away
"Then it is either thoroughly wiped down and all traces are removed, or it is taken away. Fingerprints are also monitored if he has touched anything," the source says, according to him, the president's biomaterials are protected as top-secret information.
"You can decipher a person's DNA, find out about predisposition to hereditary diseases - Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, for example - whether they are sick now and what medications they take, not to mention finding distant relatives or illegitimate children."