CIA chief says Vladimir Putin "entirely too healthy"
Jul 21, 2022
Washington [US], July 21 : Chief of US' Central Intelligence Agency has dismissed the rumours that Russian President Vladimir Putin is unwell, saying that he is "entirely too healthy."
CIA Director William Burns made these remarks while speaking at the Aspen Security Forum but added that his declaration was "not a formal intelligence judgment."
Responding to questions about Putin's health, Burns said, "There are lots of rumours about President Putin's health and, as far as we can tell, he is apparently too healthy."
The CIA chief Burns made these remarks a day after Putin visited Iran, where he met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Politico magazine reported.
On Wednesday, Putin said that fuel prices have been skyrocketing due to Western policies.
"Capital investments in the traditional energy sector have decreased due to earlier political decisions [of the West]. Banks do not finance, insurance companies do not insure, local authorities do not allocate land for new developments, and do not develop pipelines and other means of transportation. Here is the result of the policies of the previous decade," Putin told journalists after the trilateral summit.
Putin also said the restrictions on Moscow's exports of grains must be waived as there had been an agreement with international organizations and no one had objected to it.
"Initially we put the issue in such a way that it should be a package solution. Specifically, we will be facilitating the exports of Ukrainian grains, but we assume that all the restrictions related to air shipments of Russian grains will be waived," Putin said after the trilateral summit in Iran.
"Originally, that is what we agreed on with international organizations. And having taken the trouble to make it a package solution, no one has objected so far, including our American partners," he further said as quoted by Sputnik.