A “haggard” image of Vladimir Putin captured in an unguarded video filmed through a crack in a Kremlin door has fuelled speculation that the Russian President is unwell. The unfiltered moment shows the 73-year-old dictator tense, tired and markedly aged, with a sagging chin and weary eyes.

It comes amid fresh claims that immediately before launching the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin ruler hid away for several weeks – possibly in a bunker – with a cancer doctor in attendance. A new revelation also says Putin has been seeking to reverse ageing for 16 years, since the first evidence emerged of an injection for Botox or a filler. The peephole footage surfaced when Putin hosted his closest international ally, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, inside the Kremlin.

State TV propagandist Pavel Zarubin filmed the encounter, but one commentator asked: “Won’t he be punished for showing the haggard president like this?”

Another observer noted: “Putin appeared unaware he was being watched.”

The pair, with Lukashenko aged 71, shared tea as they discussed “difficult and sensitive issues” amid Middle East tensions and the Ukraine war, according to Zarubin.

Meanwhile, independent outlet The Insider reported claims that in the weeks before the invasion, Putin’s “cancer doctor” vanished on a “long assignment” and only checked in with colleagues once a week.

Dmitry Sukharev – author of an earlier report on Putin’s medical issues – said senior surgeon Dr Yevgeny Selivanov of Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, who has flown with Putin on dozens of trips, was with the dictator during that period.

Sukharev said: “According to what sources told us, after the New Year in 2022 Selivanov went on a long assignment and made contact only once a week for 10–15 minutes.”

The war began in the fourth week of February.

Sukharev said: “Judging by what my interlocutors suggest, he was likely somewhere with Putin in some protected location where there was no communication. Where exactly they were and what was actually happening during those days – even those months – is not entirely clear.”

One theory is that before the war, a rehearsal was held for operating from a bunker.

Selivanov is a top thyroid cancer specialist and was once pictured close to an officer holding Putin’s nuclear briefcase.

Putin has been accompanied by between six and 13 medical specialists on trips, according to earlier revelations.

Medics were also spotted on standby near his favourite residences outside Moscow, such as in Sochi and Valdai.

Symptoms of thyroid cancer include a thick nodule in the thyroid area, hoarseness, difficulty swallowing, neck and throat pain, enlarged lymph nodes, a dry cough and a scratchy feeling in the throat or behind the sternum.

Several years ago there were reports that Putin had suffered abdominal cancer and other ailments.

There were even claims that cancer drugs may have distorted his mind when he launched the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has always insisted that Putin is entirely healthy.

And there is evidence that his health has improved in recent years, following earlier speculation over his condition.

He has appeared more energetic and voiced hopes for longevity.

Among the medics previously named as treating Putin were Dr Dmitry Verbovoy, an expert in acute illnesses, injuries and poisonings; orthopaedic traumatologist Dr Konstantin Sim, possibly for ice hockey injuries; ENT doctor Alexei Shcheglov; infectious disease specialist Yaroslav Protasenko; neurosurgeons from the Central Clinical Hospital led by Oleg Myshkin and Dr Elena Rastrusina; resuscitator Dr Pavel Sharikov; head nurse Lyudmila Kadenkova; and rehabilitation specialist Dr Mikhail Tsykunov.

The same Insider report said: “The first signs that Putin did not want to grow old appeared back in 2010. At that time he arrived on a visit to Kyiv with a large bruise under his eye, which was poorly concealed with make-up. Later, surgeons explained that it was a classic mark from an injection – either Botox or a filler.”

The Kremlin dismissed the mark at the time as “poor lighting” or “tiredness”.