Overview

• Major outlets on August 18 repeated Paris Match’s report that FSO officers collected Putin’s faecal waste in special pouches and stowed it in a briefcase during the Alaska summit.
• Sources say the procedure is intended to prevent foreign powers from obtaining stool samples that could be analyzed for medical, chemical or genetic information about the Russian leader’s health.
• Investigative journalists Regis Gente and Mikhail Rubin first detailed the practice, tracing it to Putin’s trips to France in 2017 and Saudi Arabia in 2019.
• The Kremlin and the Federal Protection Service have not publicly confirmed the claim, leaving it grounded solely in Paris Match reporting and expert commentary.
• Observers have raised questions about Putin’s health since he exhibited leg jerks and twitches, and recent coverage has amplified those concerns by highlighting the waste-collection claim.