In a peculiar turn of events, Vladimir Putin is reported to have brought along his well-known ‘poop suitcase’ during his meeting with Donald Trump.
The much-anticipated encounter between the two leaders in Alaska on Friday (August 15) has become notable for various reasons.
The last time Putin and Trump met was in 2019, during Trump’s initial term as the US president.
Since that meeting, several significant events have unfolded, most notably Russia’s occupation and ongoing conflict with Ukraine, which Trump has consistently criticized.
The US president engaged with the Russian leader to discuss potential peaceful solutions to the conflict. Despite a discussion lasting around three hours, they parted ways without reaching an agreement.
It has now come to light that Putin’s security detail was reportedly seen transporting his notorious ‘poop suitcase’ to the summit in Alaska.
This is not the first time Kremlin officials have been tasked with this unusual duty. In 2017, the French magazine Paris Match revealed similar occurrences.
In 2022, investigative journalists disclosed that an individual within Putin’s entourage is responsible for ‘collecting his natural excrement and taking it back to Moscow’, due to the belief that his feces and urine might ‘contain vital information’.
According to reports, agents are tasked with placing Putin’s bodily fluids into designated pouches and then into the briefcase during his international travels, ‘so as to leave no trace’.
As reported by The Express US, members of the Russian president’s Federal Protection Service (FPS) are responsible for gathering his waste when he travels abroad as part of extensive security measures.
The procedure is believed to prevent foreign entities from obtaining samples that might reveal information about his health, amidst ongoing speculation about the 72-year-old’s condition.
Former BBC journalist Farida Rustamova also reported encountering the practice during Putin’s visit to Vienna, where he reportedly used a portable toilet.
According to a source, the president has been taking precautions to protect his waste since he assumed leadership in 1999.
Putin attracted attention when he appeared to move his legs erratically during a press conference in Kazakhstan last year, leading some medical professionals to speculate about a potential neurological condition like Parkinson’s disease.
In 2022, the Kremlin dismissed rumors that Putin had soiled himself after a fall down stairs and denied reports of a cardiac arrest at his official residence.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously dismissed rumors about Putin’s health as ‘fake news’ that ‘brings nothing but a smile [in the Kremlin]’.