Russian President Vladimir Putin was taken to the Kremlin at midnight, sparking a wave of conspiracy theories. Claims spread on social media that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a heart attack after meeting with a Russian official and that he was critically ill in the hospital because of which Vladimir Putin was rushed.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, shared a 5-second clip showing the Russian President being rushed to the Kremlin in Moscow.
“Putin rushed to the Kremlin around 10 minutes ago. Rumour has it it’s related to Erdogan’s health; I doubt that though,” Twitter account War Mapper, which provides daily map updates of the Ukraine war, shared.
Turkey’s government quickly rejected the claims as “baseless”. Tayyip Erdogan fell ill during a live television interview after which he said that he would take some time off to “rest at home under the advice of our doctors.” The Turkey’s President also canceled his public appearances for two days.
He was due to make an in-person address to inaugurate Turkey’s first nuclear power station in Mersin which was built by Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin will be participating virtually, adding that Russia wasn’t aware of Erdogan’s health issues.
“We know nothing about these ‘problems,'” he said.
