Inside Putin's £20billion mission to live forever including 3D printed flesh, human organs grown in pigs and naked ice baths

By IMOGEN GARFINKEL - SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 11:43, 14 June 2026 | Updated: 11:49, 14 June 2026 Vladimir Putin has spent decades cultivating an image of an ageless strongman, posing bare-chested on horseback, shirtless while fishing in Siberia and kitted out in tight leather straddling Harley Davidson motorcycles. But beneath the glossy displays of bravado and virility, the 73-year-old dictator is gripped with a festering fear of bodily decline. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the extent of his germaphobia was exposed to the world: he presided over meetings at the other end of famously long tables and subjected visitors to futuristic 'disinfection tunnels' in which they were showered with aerosol. His aversion to ageing and ailments has spiralled into a £20billion quest, aimed at fending off death for as long as humanely possible, or perhaps, forever. From 3D-printing living tissue to growing human organs inside small pigs for transplantation, Putin has appointed scientists across the country to make his wish come true. There are no limits to what the dictator will stomach for the promise of longevity: he is understood to regularly stand naked in a freezing cryotherapy chamber, a kind of reverse sauna where the body is exposed to temperatures as low as -112.2C. The ramping up of these cutting-edge and experimental scientific methods to elongate life comes as Russia's population is shrinking, recording its lowest birthrate in 200 years as wartime deaths spiral to half a million. But even as the economy hurdles towards recession, the government is intent on pumping billions into age-defying technologies, even if most of the research is rarely peer-reviewed or corroborated in major international journals. Vladimir Putin fishes while shirtless in the remote Tuva region of southern Siberia in 2017 The Russian president and his former defence minister Sergei Shoigu on board a boat during the angling trip Putin rides a motorbike during a bike show near Sevastopol in 2019 In April, the Kremlin revealed that scientists are concocting a gene-therapy treatment aimed at slowing cellular aging as part of 'New Health Preservation Technologies': Putin's £20billion longevity project. The drug 'represents one of the most promising avenues in the fight against ageing', deputy science minister Denis Sekirinsky said in the announcement. Putin was overheard talking about another initiative to prolong life with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a microphone, during a military parade in Beijing in September 2025. The conversation revealed that their mutual interests stretched far beyond the realms of politics and the economy, but into the science of living in perpetuity. 'In the past, it used to be rare for someone to be older than 70 and these days they say that at 70 one's still a child,' Xi's interpreter could be heard saying in Russian as the two leaders strolled. Putin's Mandarin interpreter responded: 'With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality.' Xi's interpreter added: 'Predictions are, this century, there's a chance of also living to 150.' The notion of scientists creating human organs in a lab, for the purpose of transplantation, was first mentioned by Putin in 2024 as part of a national longevity initiative aiming to save 175,000 lives by 2030. Putin immerses himself in the freezing waters of a lake in north-west Russia to celebrate the feast of Epiphany in 2018 The Russian president rides a horse through Siberia while shirtless in 2013 Later that year, the Russian Health Ministry sent a letter to multiple research institutes, calling on them to promptly provide 'proposals for developments' in a number of areas, including reducing the burden of cellular ageing and neurotechnologies to prevent cognitive impairments. At the time, between 120,000 to 140,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 'When we got this letter, honestly, I was stunned,' a researcher told independent Russian outlet Meduza. 'The whole premise baffled me. Oh sure, let's work on restoring the health of these old fogies - it's not like there's anyone else who needs our attention. Right in the middle of the war, we're just supposed to drop everything. The level of cynicism is really bewildering.' Even those loyal to Putin were bewildered by what they perceived as a misuse of the treasury's coffers during wartime. 'All of the research projects envisioned in the national project are very expensive. Developing new medications costs billions, and no national project can cover that - especially right now,' a source close to the Kremlin said. Nevertheless, Russian state scientists directly appointed by Putin have followed his commands, focusing on two key new technologies. One is bioprinting, or 3D-printing living tissue, and the other is xenotransplantation, or growing human organs inside mini pigs, a porcine breed deemed genetically compatible to humans. Russian scientists working with state agencies say they have already bioprinted human cartilage tissue and a mouse thyroid gland, with the aim of achieving human organ replacement by the end of the decade. 'In the Russian Federation, work is under way on a whole range of scientific programs in this field,' the Kremlin press service told The Wall Street Journal. 'These projects are supported by the state, and many scientific and research institutions are taking part in them.' The country's anti-ageing initiative is spearheaded by two figures close to Putin: his eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova, an endocrinologist overseeing state-backed genetics programmes, and physicist Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute, the Soviet-era nuclear research centre. Kovalchuk is known to peddle bizarre conspiracy theories, such as the existence of biological weapons that exclusively target Russians, and that the US was behind the Covid-19 pandemic. He has spearheaded a project to 'decode the Russian genome' and warned the Federation Council in an infamous 2015 speech that the US was creating a 'new subspecies of human' who have 'limited self-awareness' and live on 'cheap feed' produced from 'genetically modified organisms'. The brother of businessman and fellow Putin ally Yury Kovalchuk, the physicist has become the architect of Russia's longevity agenda, and has argued that science will soon allow humans to repair and replace body parts indefinitely. In his 2015 speech, he cited the 1968 Soviet film Dead Season, in which the CIA conspires with former Nazi doctors to control humanity. 'Back then, it was just speculation, but today, biologically, it's becoming possible,' he said. According to Russian media, Putin is said to share in some of Kovalchuk's conspiracy theories, and is also a fan of the film - so much so that it inspired him to join the KGB in 1975 at the age of 22. 'It is difficult to discuss immortality, but the ability to repair man will undoubtedly increase,' Kovalchuk told Russian media. Unlike similar research funded by Silicon Valley billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman and Peter Thiel, the research promoted by Kremlin loyalists has produced little peer-reviewed research in major international journals. 'If there are no publications then there are no real results, and their statements should probably be taken as aspirations, not to say dreams,' Alexander Ostrovskiy, a Russian scientist who pioneered bioprinting in the country, told the Journal. He left Russia after the army invaded Ukraine and sold his company, which now works with the government. 'It's impossible to do science in isolation,' Ostrovskiy said, referring to the sanctions that cut off Moscow's research from the western world. 'They are probably telling Putin what he wants to hear to secure funding.' Russia's president Vladimir Putin takes part in a training session for young ice hockey players before the 'Golden Puck' youth tournament final, in Moscow on April 15, 2011 Russia's president Vladimir Putin (R) shows a hold to a young judo wrestler at the Regional Judo Centre at the Arena Sports Complex in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on January 24, 2012  Another significant influence for the Russian president was Vladimir Khavinson, dubbed 'Putin's gerontologist' by the country's media. He promoted the use of peptide-based anti-ageing therapies derived from calf tissue and received one of Russia's highest state awards from Putin for advancements in medicine. Peptides - short chains of amino acids marketed for weight loss, mood and anti-ageing - have become popular among US wellness figures including Robert F Kennedy Jr and Joe Rogan, despite a lack of evidence for many of their claimed benefits and concern about their safety. Khavinson has spoken in interviews about his aim of prolonging the life of a leader whose departure would throw the country into disarray. Before his death in 2024 aged 77, he also argued that human beings were meant to live to 120 years, citing biblical passages. The personal wellness regime of the president himself has attracted intense speculation for over a decade, with some social media users certain he's using Botox or fillers to preserve the pristine skin of youth. He also seems to only drink out of one vessel - a special thermos mug - even taking it with him to world events, with his two sons apparently doing the same, according to interviews with their guardians. His bodyguards allegedly carried a suitcase to collect Putin's excrement during the Alaska summit with US President Donald Trump in August last year, in an unusual measure aimed at preventing foreign powers from obtaining information about the Russian leader's health. He told Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz that he regularly stands naked in a freezing cryotherapy chamber, a process intended to reduce muscle soreness, speed up injury recovery and boost endorphins. Putin is said to be a believer in the power of reindeer blood, choosing to consume and bathe in the substance.  It is believed that the blood strengthens bodies and stops the ageing process, while proponents also believe it helps male libido.  Every year, thousands of Siberian red deer are harnessed to have their antlers severed by farmers wishing to capitalise on the growing trend in Russia, before it is processed and put into baths.  Farms across the Altai region are famed for selling a wide variety of products made from antler blood, including creams, pills and alcoholic drinks.  Putin is believed to have begun bathing in reindeer blood in 2003, on the recommendation of a local governor.  Since then, he has visited the Altai region many times, often several times a year.  But despite the billions of pounds and attention he's pouring into defying old age, Putin's meticulous control of his self-image may have backfired, attracting greater scrutiny on his health. He has been seen with severely shaking hands and legs in numerous videos over recent years, and Ukraine's intelligence chief has even suggested the Russian president is using at least three body doubles who have had plastic surgery to look like him. In 2022, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, head of military intelligence, said the Ukrainian government is so perplexed by Russia's disastrous invasion strategy, it wonders if Putin is still taking the key decisions. He said 'no matter how bad' Putin was in the past, 'he was not an idiot', but went on to argue that Russia's war 'does not follow any logic'. As Moscow's progress in the conflict grinds to a halt and Ukraine takes the lead, the Russian leader may find that his £20billion investment in 3D printed flesh and pig-grown organs did little for the greater health of his country. The comments below have not been moderated. 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