Putin 'launched Ukraine invasion while suffering roid rage from secret cancer battle'

dailystar.co.uk:

Vladimir Putin could be suffering from "roid rage", intelligence sources claim. The Russian president’s decision to launch a brutal invasion of Ukraine may have been influenced by the effects of undergoing steroid treatment for cancer.

Citing sources close to the Kremlin, senior figures in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance - which serves Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and US - believe there is a physiological explanation for Putin’s decision to attack.Reports shared by the intelligence community highlight the 69-year-old’s increasingly erratic behaviour, bloated appearance and the vast distance he maintains from visitors to the Kremlin.One possible explanation is that he is displaying the side effects of steroid treatment.Others are that he has a brain disorder caused by dementia or Parkinson's disease.A security source said: "There has been an identifiable change in his decision-making over the past five years or so.

Those around him see a marked change in the cogency and clarity of what he says and how he perceives the world around him.’’The source said Putin’s failure to think clearly was being compounded by the lack of a "negative feedback loop".The Russian leader was "simply not being briefed" on invasion failures such as tank breakdowns, operational gaffes and troop defections.

Putin has reportedly placed Sergey Beseda, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service’s foreign operation, and his deputy under house arrest blaming them for intelligence failings that saw plans for a rapid invasion thwarted.