Oliver Stone claims Vladimir Putin has 'had this cancer' but 'I think he's licked it'

• Oliver Stone interviewed Vladimir Putin many times between 2015 and 2017 and again in 2019.
• In a podcast with Lex Fridman this week, Stone said Putin "has had cancer" but survived it.

Filmmaker Oliver Stone has claimed Vladimir Putin has previously recovered from cancer, amid speculation about the Russian president's health since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who interviewed Putin over two years between 2015 and 2017 and again in 2019, said in an interview on Lex Fridman Podcast released earlier this week: "Remember this, Putin has had this cancer and I think he's licked it. But he's also been isolated because of COVID."

Stone's comments come after New Lines reported earlier this month that a Russian oligarch, whom it did not name, had been recorded saying Putin was "very ill with blood cancer."

New Lines quoted Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev, who said that, in March, officers in the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's main security agency, were sent a memo to dispel rumors about the president's health.

Stone was granted more than a dozen interviews with Putin over two years for "The Putin Interviews," a four-part documentary that was released in 2017. Stone also interviewed Putin at the Kremlin in June, 2019.

During one of the interviews for the documentary, Putin revealed he was a grandfather – a rare public comment about his personal life.

Asked why he thought Putin invaded Ukraine, Stone told the podcast: "Perhaps he lost touch – contact – with people."

Stone added Putin appeared "not well informed" and suggested he had overestimated "the degree of cooperation" Russian forces would receive from ethnic Russians in Ukraine."

Stone said he was only speculating, but added he believed that Putin "didn't assess the situation correctly."

The filmmaker, who has been a strident critic of American foreign policy, said there had been "such a wall of propaganda as I've seen in the West – including France, and England" about the Ukraine invasion.

He added: "It is the nature of false flag operations when you create this propaganda. 'They are going to invade. They are going to invade.' And when they invaded, the US was completely ready."

"Putin fell theoretically into this trap set by the US," Stone added.

Asked what he'd asked Putin now if he could interview him, Stone said he'd ask what Putin was thinking on February 23, the day before the invasion.