A shocking news that greeted Twitter on Friday morning was the reports of Russian president Vladimir Putin stepping down next year after speculations suggest that he may have Parkinson's disease. According to a report by The Sun, Putin recently appeared to be in agony while appearing to constantly shift his legs, struggling to hold pens, and exhibited signs of weakness in his hands. Soon after the news report surfaced Twitter was flooded with shocking reactions from the people across. 'Putin' and 'Parkinson' were among the top trend on Twitter. Here are some of the tweets-
The 68-year-old's future has been the subject of increasing speculation after prominent critic Professor Valery Solovei suggested the leader was suffering from Parkinson's and that his family had urged him to retire in the new year. Valery Solovei told The Sun that Putin's 37-year-old girlfriend, Alina Kabaeva, and his two daughters were pushing him to quit the office.
"There is a family, it has a great influence on him. He intends to make public his handover plans in January," Solovei told media.
According to media reports, Kremlin spokesman and deputy chief of staff Dmitry Peskov insisted Putin was in 'excellent health'and dismissed the Parkinson's claims as 'complete nonsense'. Asked if Putin was planning to step down in the near future as Solovei had suggested, Peskov said: 'No'.
He added "Everything is fine with the President."
Notably, Putin has served more than 20 years as Russian president over two terms