The KGB “Gunslinger Gait”: Putin Is Not Stepping Down, Says RT
Western media went viral with news that Putin has Parkinson’s and that Vladimir Putin is poised to step back from the Russian presidency after being diagnosed with a neurological condition.
The sensational “news” was based on a claims by a Moscow commentator, Valery Solovey, a secret informant who once claimed membership of a shadowy, secret intelligence group, RT reported, and in 2016 and 2017 reported that Putin would step down.
“In an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, he described this group as “stronger than the Federal Security Service (FSB), stronger than the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and stronger than Russia’s Military Intelligence (GRU).” RT wrote.
Earlier this year, Solovey made headlines when he alleged that Moscow had developed a secret coronavirus cure, which was only being made available to those “who are very close to the Kremlin, and to Mr Putin.”
Nice try, Western Media says RT,: Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has rejected Solovey’s claims, telling reporters that “Putin is not going to resign – he is in excellent health.”
2015, another time of speculation as to whether Putin had a neurological disorder: We found a similar walking pattern in President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and three other highly ranked Russian officials, all presenting with a consistently reduced right arm swing in the absence of other overt neurological abnormalities, the British Medical, Journal reported
Conclusions We propose that this new gait pattern, which we term “gunslinger’s gait,” may result from a behavioural adaptation, possibly triggered by KGB or other forms of weapons training where trainees are taught to keep their right hand close to the chest while walking, allowing them to quickly draw a gun when faced with a foe. This should be included in the differential diagnosis of a unilaterally reduced arm swing.
RFE weighs in on the study in 2015: New Study Links Putin’s ‘Gunslinger’s Gait’ To KGB Training
“According to this manual, KGB operatives were instructed to keep their weapon in their right hand close to their chest and to move forward with one side, usually the left, presumably allowing subjects to draw the gun as quickly as possible when confronted with a foe,” they write.
To test their hypothesis, the neurologists studied YouTube videos of other Russian officials.
Bastiaan Bloem, a professor of movement disorder neurology at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, who led the study, said his team was “stunned” by what they saw.
They found the same characteristic walk in Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in former Russian defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Sergei Ivanov, and in senior Russian military commander Anatoly Sidorov.
Like Putin, Ivanov is a former KGB officer who served in Europe during the Cold War. Serdyukov and Sidorov both received military training, the researchers note.
The outlier in this group is Medvedev, a lawyer by training who has no clear ties to the KGB and did not serve in the military, though he underwent brief reservist training during his university years.
Since Putin handpicked him to serve as president from 2008-12 — between Putin’s second and third terms — Medvedev’s body language has often resembled that of his mentor, as has the cadence of his speech.
Citing Western media reports, the researchers write that “substantial evidence suggests that Medvedev is being coached to sound, look, and importantly, walk like the president.”
The study asserts that Putin’s asymmetrical arm swing is likely “a behavioral adaptation resulting from military or intelligence training.”
Bloem told AFP that the Russian leader’s reduced arm swing could “in part be overlearned.”
“It’s like saying, ‘Look, folks, I’ve had KGB training, I’m a real man,'” he said.