Eternal Putin?

In early June, Russian research institutes received a letter from the Russian Ministry of Health that required them to urgently provide developments in the fight against aging. This was reported in an investigation by independent media outlets Meduza and Sistema.

According to journalists, doctors were required to promptly provide “proposals for developments” in the field of preventing and developing cognitive and sensory disorders, methods for correcting the immune system, medical products aimed at reducing the burden of cellular aging, as well as in the field of organ bioprinting.

According to the journalists’ sources in research institutes, they have not yet sent their developments to the Ministry of Health. The publication’s interlocutors noted that they are unlikely to be able to send anything significant — the letter they received had the tone of, “Give me at least something.”

“The biggest boss set the task, and officials rushed to implement it in every possible way,” said one source.

The main lobbyist for the program is believed to be the president of the Kurchatov Institute, Mikhail Kovalchuk, known for his friendship with President Vladimir Putin and commitment to various anti-scientific theories. "This is Kovalchuk, who raves about eternal life and the 'Russian genome,' and that raving has reached the president," said one source.

According to journalists, Kovalchuk is already overseeing a federal program for domestic developments in the field of genetics. Putin's eldest daughter, endocrinologist Maria Vorontsova, is participating in it.

As noted by the investigation, back in early 2024, Putin announced that Russia needed a new national project aimed at "preserving the health" of citizens. One interviewee at a capital hospital ironically calls the initiative "the whims of an aging Politburo."

It is not yet known whether the new letter is connected with the national program. At the same time, the letter from the Ministry of Health and articles dedicated to the national project mention a direction that is only indirectly related to life extension as a technology “aimed at active longevity.” This includes three-dimensional printing using living cells, which allows the creation of human organs (bioprinting). The state corporation Rosatom, associated with Kovalchuk, is responsible for its development.