Most political leaders have a peculiarity that sets them apart from the rest of us.
Baroness Thatcher could survive on four hours sleep a night, Gordon Brown reportedly ate four KitKats a day and Lord Cameron was said to have had a blackbelt in chillaxing.
Vladimir Putin, 71, meanwhile 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, as the story goes, has seen him bathe in the blood of a Siberian red deer to enhance his virility, conduct voodoo with a black wolf and constantly seek advice from leading mystics.
But even by the Russian dictators bizarre standards, the latest reports – that he has visited Shamans in Mongolia and Siberia to discuss military operations with them and even seek their blessing for the use of nuclear missiles (or the weapons of the gods as they call them) – sound a little far-fetched.
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 Putins 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 Mongolias 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 and engage in a rather niche form of Mongolian wrestling – where, on a previous trip, he had reportedly taken part in voodoo 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 Putins former speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov – was that Putin was desperate to consult the worlds most powerful shamans before escalating his war in Ukraine. Because even he didnt 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.
So, perhaps not surprisingly, the Kremlin has issued a tart denial: The mentioned circumstances related to the Russian Presidents visit to Mongolia in September 2024 have no connection to reality.
But Putin does seem to have form.
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 all was going to plan.
And last year Russian state media reported that, at Putins request, Kara-ool Dopchun-ool – Russias supreme shaman – had asked the sun, the moon and the stars to protect the Kremlins troops in Ukraine.
Putin and Mongolias President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh attend a wreath laying ceremony in the countrys capital Ulaanbaatar last month
All of which might sound bonkers to you or I. 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 grubby 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 Putins 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.
And for a while, Alyona Polyn – a reality TV star and leader of a group called the Empire Of The Strongest Witches – was Putins 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 didnt like.
Because not all Putins 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 dictators 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. Not that there seems to be much evidence.
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, Russias 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.