Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly has three more years to live and is facing the very real prospect of losing his eyesight in that time, a former Russian spy has revealed.

The revelations about the Russian president’s supposed terminal condition came from a former spy for the FSB, Russia’s domestic security agency.

“[Putin is] losing his sight and has been given three years to live by his doctors,” the unnamed spy flatly told the Sunday Mirror, commenting on rumours about Putin’s health.

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“[He] has a severe form of rapidly progressing cancer…[and has] no more than two to three years to stay alive. We are told he is suffering from headaches and when he appears on TV he needs pieces of paper with everything written in huge letters to read what he’s going to say,” the former spy explained.

“They are so big each page can only hold a couple of sentences. His eyesight is seriously worsening. And his limbs are now also shaking uncontrollably,” the Sunday Mirror further quoted the former FSB agent as saying.

Moscow, however, swiftly dismissed reports on Putin’s terminal condition, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov claiming that the Russian president is not suffering from any ailments whatsoever.

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“President Putin appears in public every day. You can see him on the screens, read his speeches, listen to his speeches. I don’t think sane people can distinguish any symptoms of illness in this man,” Lavrov told French media after reports on Putin’s supposed cancer surfaced.

Despite Lavrov’s statement, however, Putin’s recent public appearances do suggest that the president is ill: footage from April showed Putin’s hands shaking, while the 69-year-old was also pictured with a blanket on a relatively warm Moscow summer day during Victory Day celebrations.

Earlier, New Lines magazine had also reported, citing a secret recording by a Russian oligarch, that Putin was “very ill” with blood cancer, a claim that was also backed by FSB memos uncovered by investigative agency Bellingcat.