Organ printing, cryotherapy, mini pigs. Putin’s anti-aging plan

Russian president trying to live forever since he was 16. The project is a priority for the Kremlin, which has already spent 22 billion euros in the search for Vladimir Putin’s longevity, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal.

From gene therapies against aging, 3D printing of living tissues, transplants of organs grown in animals and experiments with cryotherapy: the president of Russia, Vladimir Putinwill have already channeled billions of dollars into state projects dedicated to human longevity.

The investigation is carried out by , which at the end of last week said that, to be exact, the 73-year-old Russian leader will have already allocated at least 26 billion dollars (more than 22 billion euros) to programs associated with preserving health and prolonging life.

The investment is allegedly part of a project known as the Kremlin’s “New Health Preservation Technologies”, which includes the development of gene therapy drugs aimed at delaying cellular aging. In April, Russian Deputy Minister of Science, Denis Sekirinsky, described this type of drug as one of the “most promising” ways to combat aging.

The initiative is, however, just a small part of the longevity programs promoted by the Kremlin, says the North American newspaper — which says that it all started when Putin was just 16 years old.

Organ printing, cryotherapy and mini pigs

Among the areas financed by the Russian state will be xenotransplantation — a technique that seeks to grow human organs in small pigs for later transplantation into people — and the bioprintingwhich consists of 3D printing of living tissues.

Government-backed Russian scientists, cited by the WSJ, say they have already managed to print a mouse thyroid gland and human cartilage and say they hope to print complete human organs for transplantation by the end of the decade. Putin himself made public his commitment to these technologies in April 2024, guaranteeing that the projects could save 175 thousand lives by 2030.

In response to the Wall Street Journal, the Kremlin confirmed that Russia is developing “a series of scientific programs” in this area, with state support and the participation of several research institutions.

The initiative will feature figures close to the Russian president. One of those responsible is Putin’s daughter, a 41-year-old endocrinologist, who leads state genetics projects. Another name associated with anti-aging initiatives is physicist Mikhail Kovalchuk, whose brother, Yuri Kovalchuk, is a financier with the Russian head of state.

In the physicist’s view, humanity will soon be able to replace and repair organs indefinitely, paving the way for a substantial extension of life.

“Human organs can be transplanted over and over again.” Putin in September

Other experts do not believe in the Russian research, which has not been published in scientific journals or subject to peer review. Alexander Ostrovskiy, a Russian bioprinting pioneer who left the country after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, makes it clear that, without scientific publications, there is no proof of real results. The advances announced by the Russians are rather dreams or aspirations of the Kremlin, he says — especially because it is “impossible to do science in isolation” from the rest of the world.

Still in your reading, some researchers may simply be telling Putin what the President wants to hear, with the aim of securing public funding for their research.

Putin’s obsession with health and vitality has been evident over the years. The images of the Russian President in physical poses of a typical strong man, bare-chested, riding a horse, fishing, hunting or riding motorcycles, became part of his public image and ended up generating countless memes.

Interest in longevity also arose in conversations with foreign leaders, such as the one intercepted in September last year, with the Chinese president. A microphone ” Putin telling Xi Jinping that organ replacement could allow humans to live forever.

“In the past, people rarely reached the age of 70, but today, at 70, one is still a child,” Xi told Putin, according to an on-site translation. Putin agreed.

“With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality“, replied the Russian leader, while Xi spoke to him about the “hypothesis of living to 150 years old predicted for this century”.

According to the WSJ, the fixation with the idea of ​​living forever may have much older roots. The Soviet film Dead Season, released in 1968, about CIA agents and Nazi doctors involved in medical experiments to control humanity, impressed Putin and contributed to his desire to join the KGB — which would happen in 1975.