CIA Chief: Putin Is 'Entirely Too Healthy'

While Vladimir Putin hasn't been seen on any shirtless horseback rides lately, CIA Director William Burns says there's no intelligence to back up persistent rumors that the Russian leader is in bad health. "There are lots of rumors about President Putin's health and as far as we can tell he's entirely too healthy," Burns said Wednesday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, per the BBC. He added, after laughter from the crowd, that his statement was "not a formal intelligence judgment."

Burns—a former ambassador to Moscow—described Putin as "a big believer in control, intimidation, and getting even" and warned that his attitudes, including a belief that "his destiny as Russia's leader is to restore Russia as a great power," have hardened in recent years. Burns, who was speaking the day after Putin visited Iran in a rare foreign trip, said reports Moscow is seeking drones from Iran point to weakness in Russia's own defense sector, Politico reports. (More Vladimir Putin stories.)