New Video Sparks Speculation About 'Drunk' Putin

A new video of an allegedly intoxicated Vladimir Putin discussing the Russia-Ukraine war has been viewed over 820,000 times on Twitter.

The video, posted by a user named Dmitri, says that "Drunk putin explains why strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure will continue."

"All the nonsense, the informational standoff, the informational throw-ins, all the fakes–they must stand aside," the Russian president said while holding a glass full of some sort of drink. "They should not prevent us from fulfilling our duty to our people."

Putin said people don't have to be "particularly well-versed" to understand the current state of affairs, adding that "there's a lot of noise" about Russia's repeated strikes against critical Ukrainian infrastructure.

He didn't mention Ukraine by name, referring to it only as a neighboring nation.

"Yes, we are doing it. But who started it? Who struck the Crimean bridge?" Putin said, referring to such acts as genocide. "Who blew up the power lines of the Kursk nuclear power station? Who is not providing water to Donetsk?"

Anna Nemtsova, a journalist based in Moscow, tweeted that Putin's alleged intoxication is a first during his time in office.

"We've seen many staged photo&video shoots in 20 Years including half-naked Putin on a horse or diving for some Greek jugs,Putin flying w migratory birds or kissing a boy on the stomach but drunk speeches about Russian missiles striking neighbouring state must be Putin's own act," she tweeted.

CBC journalist Evan Dyer called it "very strange to see Putin drunk in public."

"Being sober in a hard-drinking country is central to his public image," Dyer tweeted. "It was the main contrast he drew between himself and Yeltsin....But no doubt, he's plastered here."

Economist and author Anders Aslund also said it is the first time that he has seen Putin "drunk in any context."

"He talks nonsense as usual, but he seems to realize that he is a loser," Aslund said. "Very interesting & promising. All Russians will see that he is drunk & weak."

"Woah. Never seen Putin drunk before, or even heard of him getting drunk (he used to boast he was teetotal)," tweeted New Lines Magazine Global Editor Amie Ferris-Rotman. "Things must be going very wrong in Ukraine."

Putin has been known over the years for possessing a strict diet and refraining from vices such as drugs and alcohol.

Ben Judah, author of Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell in and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin, wrote in Newsweek in 2014 that the Russian president ate late "substantial" breakfasts often consisting of cottage cheese and even quail eggs on some occasions.

In 2019, Russian state media outlet Tass reported that Putin does not approve of smoking cigarettes "because he advocates a healthy lifestyle."

He has also been critical of Russia's drinking culture, saying in the past that he received German beer bottles from former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Meduza, an independent English and Russian publication headquartered in Riga, Latvia, reported in August that Putin suddenly brought up heightened levels of alcohol usage in Russia's Kirov and Vladimir regions. He also expressed concern about Russian generals abusing alcohol, identified by slurred speech.

One source told Meduza that Russians "took to the bottle [in February]" following the country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine "and some of them don't want to stop" due to continued stress.

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.