Overview

• Chinese state television microphones recorded the off-script exchange as the leaders walked toward Tiananmen during Wednesday’s parade.
• Interpreters rendered Vladimir Putin as suggesting repeated organ transplants could extend life toward “immortality,” and Xi Jinping as citing forecasts of lifespans reaching 150 years.
• Reporters emphasize that the audio is fragmentary and partially inaudible, with on-the-spot translation introducing uncertainty about exact wording.
• The parade featured a prominent joint appearance by Xi, Putin and Kim Jong Un alongside a display of hypersonic missiles, drones and other weaponry that observers viewed as a geopolitical signal.
• Specialists, including nephrologist Piergiorgio Messa and researcher Eric Topol, say current science cannot plausibly achieve such longevity through transplants and warn of significant ethical and biological constraints.