September 09, 2024

Eternal Putin?


Eternal Putin?
Vladimir Putin and scientist Mikhail Kovalchuk. Presidential Press and Information Office, Wikimedia Commons.

In early June, Russian research institutes received a letter from the Russian Ministry of Health that required them to urgently provide developments in the fight against aging. This was reported in an investigation by independent media outlets Meduza and Sistema.

According to journalists, doctors were required to promptly provide “proposals for developments” in the field of preventing and developing cognitive and sensory disorders, methods for correcting the immune system, medical products aimed at reducing the burden of cellular aging, as well as in the field of organ bioprinting.

According to the journalists’ sources in research institutes, they have not yet sent their developments to the Ministry of Health. The publication’s interlocutors noted that they are unlikely to be able to send anything significant — the letter they received had the tone of, “Give me at least something.”

“The biggest boss set the task, and officials rushed to implement it in every possible way,” said one source.

The main lobbyist for the program is believed to be the president of the Kurchatov Institute, Mikhail Kovalchuk, known for his friendship with President Vladimir Putin and commitment to various anti-scientific theories. "This is Kovalchuk, who raves about eternal life and the 'Russian genome,' and that raving has reached the president," said one source.

According to journalists, Kovalchuk is already overseeing a federal program for domestic developments in the field of genetics. Putin's eldest daughter, endocrinologist Maria Vorontsova, is participating in it.

As noted by the investigation, back in early 2024, Putin announced that Russia needed a new national project aimed at "preserving the health" of citizens. One interviewee at a capital hospital ironically calls the initiative "the whims of an aging Politburo."

It is not yet known whether the new letter is connected with the national program. At the same time, the letter from the Ministry of Health and articles dedicated to the national project mention a direction that is only indirectly related to life extension as a technology “aimed at active longevity.” This includes three-dimensional printing using living cells, which allows the creation of human organs (bioprinting). The state corporation Rosatom, associated with Kovalchuk, is responsible for its development.

You Might Also Like

Russian Anxiety on the Rise
  • August 26, 2024

Russian Anxiety on the Rise

Russian anxieties about the war are increasing in response to Ukraine's offensive into the Kursk region. 
So Long, American Tech
  • August 21, 2024

So Long, American Tech

US-based software companies will soon not be accessible in Russia at all. 
Made in Russia?
  • August 19, 2024

Made in Russia?

According to journalists, Russia has failed in its efforts at import substitution.
What's Your Score?
  • July 15, 2024

What's Your Score?

A Moscow university hopes to create a social score system like China's. 
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955