Image: AP POOL SPUTNIK KREMLIN
analysis
For the Russian president, longevity is a top priority.
May 30, 2026, 2:03 p.mMay 30, 2026, 2:03 p.m
When a hot mic conversation between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping about organ transplants was caught, it was quickly dismissed as small talk between two heads of state. But now the Wall Street Journal reveals that there is much more to it. Putin is expected to spend around $26 billion on longevity research and make Russia the leading nation in the field.
The Russian president’s fitness obsession is well known. He trains regularly in his private gyms. He likes to be photographed bare-chested in ice water, and even at the age of 73 he throws himself into a judo suit or stumbles across the ice rink in ice hockey gear. Putin is also terrified of infection. Anyone who wants to get close to him must first undergo a series of health checks.
Vladimir Putin in judo gear.Image: AP/POOL SPUTNIK KREMLIN
Putin shares his passion for longevity with a number of American tech oligarchs. Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos, among others, want to outwit the Grim Reaper. Inspired by Ray Kurzweil’s theses, an American inventor and futurist, there is a Singularity University in Silicon Valley where research is also carried out on eternal life; if necessary, this life can also take place as software in space.
Putin, on the other hand, wants to live as old as possible as a flesh-and-blood human being. The Russian scientists are therefore focusing their research on two things: bioprinting, the production of human tissue in a 3D printer, and xenotransplantation, the cultivation of human organs in pigs. The Kremlin press office confirmed this finding to the Wall Street Journal. “These projects are supported by the state, and many scientific institutions and research institutes are involved.”
Two prominent figures oversee this research. One is Putin’s daughter Maria Vorontsova, an endocrinologist, and the other is physicist Mikhail Kovalchuk. Both are convinced that longevity is more than just a fashion hype. “Discussing immortality is difficult,” explains Kovalchuk. “But the possibility of improving people will undoubtedly improve.”
Maria Vorontsova, daughter of Vladimir Putin.Image: www.imago-images.de
Longevity research existed in Russia long before the term even existed. Another prominent representative was the gerontologist Vladimir Khavinson. He specialized in antiaging therapies using tissue from calves. The US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy and the blogger Joe Rogan are also counting on this. Khavinson wanted to live to be at least 120 years old with this therapy. It didn’t quite work out. He died in 2024 at the tender age of 77.
There is something surreal about the longevity hype in general, but especially in Russia, as the life expectancy of people in this country is just a meager 68 years. For comparison: In Switzerland, women live to an average age of 85.8 and men 82.2 years.
In addition to excessive vodka consumption, the war in Ukraine is currently reducing men’s life expectancy. The losses of the Russian army are immense. Various independent sources have concluded that a total of around 1.2 million Russian soldiers were either killed or seriously wounded. Currently around 30,000 soldiers are taken out of action every month.
In recent months the character of the war has fundamentally changed. The Economist states in its latest issue: “Technology makes it more difficult for an army to gain territory. It also makes it possible for weaker powers to defend themselves against attacks from stronger ones.”
Ukrainian soldier launches a drone.Image: Keystone
Thanks to newly developed drones, the Ukrainians are putting these findings into practice in a picture-perfect manner. So-called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) could penetrate far behind the Russian front and massively disrupt the enemy’s logistics. In recent months, the Russian advance in Donbas has effectively come to a standstill. Alyona Getmanchuk, head of the Ukrainian delegation to NATO, told the Financial Times: “We are now in the strongest position since the outbreak of war.”
Russia is not only paying a heavy toll in Ukraine. The Financial Times also reports that the idiotic war is tearing a huge hole in the state coffers. Although revenues have increased thanks to the rise in oil prices, the deficit of around $28 billion is already at the level that was planned for the entire year. Around 40 percent of government spending goes to the war. There is no money for civilian projects. This is likely to get worse in the coming months. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has announced that all spending, with the exception of defense, will be frozen.
Putin’s inner circle is over 70 years old. That may explain his desire for longevity, as well as the stupidity of the war against Ukraine. The old men in the Kremlin simply don’t check what’s going on anymore. Or as the Economist writes: “Because military technology is getting smarter, it’s getting dumber to wage war.”