"Fight against ageing" How Putin wants to become immortal
Many consider Vladimir Putin's desire for eternal life to be an eccentricity. The Kremlin leader himself is getting serious: in the fight against mortality, he is focusing on research - and investing the equivalent of 20 billion Swiss francs.
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- Russia is investing the equivalent of more than 20 billion francs in research aimed at slowing down human ageing.
- Vladimir Putin himself attaches great importance to the program.
- He told Xi Jinping that Russian methods could "perhaps even make people immortal".
- Putin's own daughter is one of those responsible for the research projects.
With the Russian attack on Ukraine, he has taken on almost the entire Western world. He keeps the opposition down - by force if necessary. Anyone who could pose a threat to him in the Russian power structure is rendered harmless. Even close allies could be targeting his posts. In short: Vladimir Putin has many opponents.
However, the opponent the Kremlin leader is apparently most afraid of is not sitting in the seat of government of a hostile nation, in a Russian prison or even in his own cabinet. Everyone has to face Vladimir Putin's final opponent: human mortality.
In September 2025, an unexpectedly switched-on microphone captured parts of a conversation between Putin, China's ruler Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. Human organs could be "constantly transplanted through advancing technology, to such an extent that people could become younger, perhaps even immortal", said the 73-year-old Putin, addressing his Chinese counterpart.
Putin and Xi exchanged views on immortality
"It is said that people will live to be 150 years old in the future towards the end of the millennium," replied the 72-year-old Xi, while Kim, 30 years younger, smiled to himself at the leaders of the two nations who guaranteed the survival of his regime at the meeting in Beijing.
For many, the exchange symbolized how unrealistic the autocrats of this world are. Eccentric men of power who dream of the impossible.
For Vladimir Putin at least, however, this eccentricity is serious. The Russian president has put his country's top researchers on his quest for immortality, and close confidants are responsible for the project.
Research projects worth 20 billion francs
The Kremlin is investing a good 20 billion francs in research projects aimed at prolonging human life.
This includes a new initiative in which researchers are developing a gene therapy to slow down the ageing of cells. In April 2026, Deputy Research Minister Denis Sekirinski described the drug as "one of the most promising methods in the fight against ageing".
Other methods include bioprinting: the artificial production of human organs with the aim of transplantation. This is probably the method that Putin told Xi Jinping about in Beijing.
In addition, it should be possible to print human tissue using 3D printers in the future. The declared aim of this program is to be able to replace natural organs with their printed, superior counterparts by 2030.
The fight against ageing is a family affair
In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, the Kremlin press office said: "These projects are supported by the state and many scientific and research institutes are participating in them."
Just how important these projects are to Putin is also made clear by who he has entrusted with them: The renowned doctor Mikhail Kovalchuk and the endocrinologist Mariya Vorontsova, his own daughter. Kovalchuk in particular, head of the Kurchatov Institute, is regarded as the brains behind Russia's rejuvenation offensive.
Another pioneer in this field was Vladimir Chawinson, a gerontologist who took a passage from the Bible as proof that man was created by God to live for 120 years.
Chawinson received the highest state decoration from Putin for his discoveries in the field of medicine. However, Chawinson was unable to realize his goal of immortality: He died in 2024 at the age of 77.
Bioprinting expert is skeptical
The Kremlin seems to be convinced that this goal is within reach thanks to Russian methods. International observers raise doubts. It is true that figures such as Kovalchuk and Khavinson are renowned, reputable scientists. But their work has not yet appeared in any peer-reviewed journal.
"If there are no publications, there are no real results," scientist Alexander Ostrovsky, who is one of the pioneers of bioprinting and left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, also told the Wall Street Journal.
Russian reports of progress in the fight against mortality could therefore once again merely be a dubious projection of strength.
