Did Putin consult shamans in Mongolia about unleashing nuclear weapons?
Vladimir Putin, 71, has what Kremlin insiders call a 'special attitude to mysticism' and a deep belief in shamanism – that individuals can communicate with the spirit world.
Which has seen him bathe in the blood of Siberian red deer to enhance his virility, conduct shamanic rituals with a black wolf, and constantly seek advice from leading mystics.
The latest reports are that he has visited Shamans in Mongolia and Siberia to discuss military operations with them and seek their blessing for the use of nuclear missiles (or 'the weapons of the gods' as they call them).
So much was odd about these visits.
For starters, Mongolia is a party to the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant in response to Putin's forced deportation of Ukrainian children – it should have detained him on the spot. Putin knew that, but still went, making this his third visit in a decade – ostensibly to mark the 85th anniversary of Mongolian and Soviet troops' victory over Japanese forces. (And presumably banked on Mongolia's reliance on Russian energy for his safe passage.)
Kremlin insiders say Vladimir Putin has a deep belief in shamanism - that individuals can communicate with the spirit world. Pictured, a shaman performs a rite in Siberia
En route, he stopped off in the remote, mountainous Tuva region – a stronghold of pagan beliefs where they speak their own language where, on a previous trip, he had reportedly taken part in shamanistic practices.
He was there, so the official line goes, to give a lecture on patriotism to school children. But the more interesting story – backed by exiled sources Mikhail Zygar, founder of independent news TV channel Dozhd, and Putin's former speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov – was that Putin was desperate to consult the world's most powerful shamans before escalating his war in Ukraine. Because even he didn't want to 'anger the spirits' by proceeding without their blessing.
If true, it beggars belief. A world leader consulting mystics about whether he should, or should not, deploy catastrophic weapons that could start World War III.
Along with Sergei Shoigu (the defence minister he sacked in May), he is said to have consulted mystics before his invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – and was reportedly buoyed when they assured him of victory. Eight months into the war, he allegedly held two more meetings with shamans – to check that all was going to plan.
And last year Russian state media reported that, at Putin's request, Kara-ool Dopchun-ool – Russia's 'supreme shaman' – had asked 'the sun, the moon and the stars' to protect the Kremlin's troops in Ukraine.
Putin and Mongolia's President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh attend a wreath laying ceremony in the country's capital Ulaanbaatar last month
All of which might sound bonkers. But not in Russia, where some boast that there are more occult doctors than the medical kind and a vein of paganism, shamans and mystics dates back to the Tsarist era. The most infamous, of course, was Grigori Rasputin. The sex-mad Siberian priest who somehow bewitched the family of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, slept with anyone he could lay his hands on and fanned the flames of hatred against the monarchy that paved the way to the 1917 revolution. Decades later, it is said Josef Stalin ordered a senior shaman to perform a ritual to break the Nazis' siege of Stalingrad.
Soviet state-sponsored TV aired live shamanic healing sessions in the late 1980s, whereby shamans 'healed' individuals suffering from cancer and heart issues.
And it has long been rumoured that Russian officials invite occultists to international talks to influence the outcome. Not every shaman, though, is a cheerleader for the Kremlin.
In 2019, Shaman Alexander Gabyshev, 55, set out from Siberia to Moscow to 'exorcise the demon Putin' and restore democracy. Two years later, after completing 2,600 miles of the 6,000-odd mile walk, he was arrested by Putin's security staff and locked in a psychiatric prison, where he has been ever since.
According to Alexander Pryanishnikov, a human rights lawyer who defended Gabyshev, the authorities are keen to keep him locked up as they truly believe that, away from his land, the shaman is deprived of his power.
Pryanishnikov said: 'I'm absolutely convinced that influential figures in law enforcement and security agencies are afraid of all these not entirely understandable and irrational threats linked to shamanistic rituals.'
By keeping him locked up, and away from his land, he 'loses his power'.
'It seems that the main reason the authorities are not easing the pressure on him is this fear of rites and rituals.'
Shaman Alexander Gabyshev, 55, set out in 2019 to walk 5,000 across Russia to 'exorcise the demon Putin' and restore democracy
Putin imprisoned Shaman Alexander Gabyshev (pictured)
And for a while, Alyona Polyn – a reality TV star and leader of a group called the Empire Of The Strongest Witches – was Putin's 'favourite witch'. No wonder. She used magic spells to boost his ratings, worked for his secret services, gave psychological support to Russian troops and their families and collected voodoo dolls, black candles and demonic figures.
The story goes that Putin did not want to 'anger the spirits' by using catastrophic weapons in Ukraine without consulting the Shamans. Pictured, a Shaman performs a ritual near a poster of the Russian president in 2021
But this summer, she was suddenly detained and accused of fraud and extremism. Perhaps she gave him advice he didn't like.
Because not all Putin's shamanic sessions focus on his military operations. He is just as obsessed with immortality, strength and anti-ageing, as he is with global domination.
To which end, over the years he has treated us to a slew of macho holiday photos – mostly showing him topless horse-riding, breaking sticks of wood with his bare hands, white water rafting or demonstrating his judo prowess, usually in Tuva.
It was also in Tuva that Putin and Shoigu – who hails from the region – are claimed to have attended the shamanic ritual involving a black wolf. The aim was to improve the dictator's health – there had been unconfirmed reports of a heart attack.
First, the wolf was sacrificed. Then a piece of white fabric was soaked in its blood and burned. And, finally, a black raven circled in the smoke that swirled above. All of which was presented to a delighted Putin as 'a great success'.
It was also Shoigu who is said to have introduced Putin to the benefits of blood baths – which supposedly boost sexual virility and slow ageing.
Putin embraced it all with gusto. And a preferred blood-bathing spot is in a palace in the Altai mountains, 2,375 miles east of Moscow, with its own deer farm where, ahead of one presidential visit, 70 kilos of stag antlers were piled high in readiness.
But however many stags have been slaughtered and blood baths taken by Putin and Alina Kabaeva (his 41-year-old gymnast lover who is also said to be a fan) they have not, it seems, quite done the job.
Because, in June, Russia's top scientists were ordered to develop an anti-ageing wonder drug that would turn back the biological clock for Putin and his ever-greying inner circle. The brief was to reduce cell deterioration, prevent cognitive and sensory impairment and strengthen the immune system. Research that would usually take years and require billions.
'We received this paper, and frankly, I was shocked,' said one of the researchers. 'The message puzzled me. That is, right now [during the war] we have to drop everything.' The diversion of resources was described as 'perplexing'. Or downright alarming.
It is hard to decide which is scarier: the idea that war in Ukraine – possibly including nuclear weapons – could be in the hands of the Shamans of Siberia. Or that, along the way, Putin might discover the key to eternal life.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13922665/did-Putin-really-consult-shamans-Mongolia-unleashing-nuclear-weapons-start-World-War-III.html
Kara-ool Dopchun-ool (L), supreme shaman of 'The Spirit of Bear' society, conducts a medical session to cure a man, suffering from asthma and liver disease, at his residence in the Kyzyl town, administrative centre of Russia's Tuva region
'Mongolia and Tuva are considered the home of the most powerful shamans in the world,' said Zygar.
The Russian leader had sought the blessing of shamans for the use of nuclear weapons - because he was afraid of 'angering the spirits'.
Putin had consulted shamans before starting the war with Ukraine in early 2022.
'All of them assured him of a military victory.'
In October 2022 - eight months into the war - said that Putin held 'two meetings with shamans' as he was 'actively preparing for a nuclear war'.
'The shamans performed a rite for Putin, in which they said that 'a burning bird brings victory and death'.
Putin was said to take the 'shamanic ravings quite seriously'.
'In addition to receiving a blessing to use nuclear weapons (the weapons of the gods), Putin was also interested in the question of his own longevity, as well as reincarnation,' said Gallyamov.
'He was said to be very pleased with the meetings and the rituals performed.'
'Nuclear weapons are the weapons of the gods, and such power is not given to a mere mortal.
'If a mere mortal wants to use the weapons of the gods, then he must undergo the appropriate rituals and receive the blessing of heaven….'
Putin has a problem: he does not understand the real state of his nuclear forces.
Russia's Supreme Shaman Kara-ool Dopchun-ool, 76, sought the help of 'the sun, the moon and the stars' to protect Russian forces in Ukraine
'After the war began, it became clear that Putin was simply led by the nose in many things.
'Where are the tanks, where are the fortified areas that were said to have been built in the Kursk region, on which billions were spent, but where the Ukrainians broke into them literally in one hour after several shots from their tanks?
'I think that Putin cannot help but have doubts in this situation: what do I have there with nuclear potential?
'Maybe everything has already rusted or everything has been stolen, that is, he has a reason to worry.'
Gallyamov sees Putin's shamanic meetings as having been organised by Mikhail Kovalchuk, 77, a close Putin confidante behind a recent drive to order Russian scientists to urgently develop anti-ageing remedies to benefit the tyrant and his coterie of septuagenarians.
Kovalchuk, whose brother Yury Kovalchuk, 73, is Putin's personal banker, heads Russia's Kurchatov nuclear research institute and is a leading member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is described as 'crazy about eternal life'.
Putin's palace in the Altai Mountains 2,375 miles east of Moscow features not only a hi-tech bunker from which he can rule Russia in the event of nuclear war.
The complex includes a maral deer farm where antlers are sawn off terrified Siberian stags so Putin and his cronies can take blood baths, it has been reported.
The ancient tradition is seen as a testosterone-driven elixir to improve male potency, and also as bringing multiple health benefits.
The 'barbarian' extraction of deer blood from antlers for 'medicinal' baths is intended to boost sexual virility and restore youth.
There is also a theory it slows aging in women.
Putin's lover gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 41, is known to have spent time at this mountain retreat called Altai Yard.
The 'barbarian' extraction of deer blood from antlers for 'medicinal' baths is intended to boost sexual virility and restore youth
Ahead of one Putin visit, 70 kilograms of stag antlers were prepared for the Russian leader, in order to take blood baths.
Animal rights campaigners have slammed the use of electric saws with no anaesthetic to cut off the deers' magnificent velvet antlers at such breeding stations.
Observers say the creatures are 'bewildered' and 'shellshocked', their eyes 'bulging with fright'.
He was introduced to the blood baths by his former defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who is now secretary of the Russian security council and hails from the shamanic region of Tuva.
There have been claims that the pair attended a shamanic ritual - believed to be in the Siberian region Tuva - which involved the sacrifice of a black wolf in a rite to improve the president's health.
'A piece of white fabric was soaked with the wolf's blood and burned,' said an account of this.
'They saw a black raven in the smoke that circled for a long time.'
'This sign was explained to Putin as a great success.'
Rumours following the trip to Mongolia and Tuva indicated the Russian leader had sought the blessing of shamans for the use of nuclear weapons. Pictured: Kara-ool Dopchun-ool in Tuva
Earlier in the war, Russia's Supreme Shaman Kara-ool Dopchun-ool, 76, had sought the help of 'the sun, the moon and the stars' to protect Russian forces in Ukraine.
Shamans from Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, St. Petersburg, and Sochi, Tuva and Khakassia obeyed his call to support the troops in Putin's war
He claimed the rites echoed rites of his grandfather who was ordered by an earlier Kremlin dictator, Josef Stalin, to 'perform a ritual over Stalingrad to help to win the battle' against the Nazis.
A dancing shaman in Hovsgol province in Mongolia
A shaman matriarch in west Taiga, Hovsgol province, Mongolia
A shaman performs a ritual next to a fire in a remote part of the Siberian mountains. It's part of the festival 'Call of 13 Shamans' held near the village of Khorum-Dag in Tyva Republic, the geographic centre of the Asian continent
Some of the rituals and appearances are similar to those of Native Americans. DNA evidence suggests that the indigenous American population originated from the Siberian mountains, before leaving Russia and passing over the frozen Bering Strait around 14,000 years ago
The practitioners often enter a trance-like state during the rituals while performing divination or healing. Many of the ceremonies originated in prehistory
The shamans bang drums together as they walk around a campfire in southeastern Siberia. The area is believed to have been chosen because it's spiritually 'charged'
