Russian scientists are studying thousands of elderly monkeys to unlock the secrets of eternal youth, as ageing Vladimir Putin dreams of living to 150.
The drive is being led by 80-year-old Mikhail Kovalchuk, who acts as the Russian leader’s scientific guru.
His state-run Kurchatov Institute, one of Russia‘s leading scientific establishments, is home to more than 7,000 monkeys from 22 separate species
Among them is a special group of ageing animals, some more than 30 years old, whose blood, brains and internal organs are being painstakingly examined for clues to longevity.
Kovalchuk told a scientific forum in Moscow: ‘We are conducting screenings of elderly monkeys to observe all stages of ageing. We evaluate individuals from 18 to over 30 years old.
‘We conduct a complete screening: biochemical analysis, structural analysis, vascular studies, brain scans, everything. Primates are the closest example to us.
‘This is the foundation for creating a regulatory system for extending [lifespan].’
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His scientists have also created a special blood bank using samples from unusually old monkeys.
The longevity project is run jointly with the Petrovsky Russian Scientific Centre of Surgery, whose director Konstantin Kotenko said the samples help researchers understand the biological mechanisms of ageing.
Kovalchuk’s billionaire brother Yuri, 74, is one of the Russian dictator’s closest associates, known as ‘Putin’s wallet’.
Mikhail Kovalchuk leads Putin’s longevity drive alongside the dictator’s own daughter Maria Vorontsova, 41, an endocrinologist, who recently outlined on Russian state TV plans for medicines designed to combat old age and ‘defeat death’.
She candidly admitted – without mentioning Putin’s name – that the ‘main driver’ of developments towards longevity is ‘the existential fear of death.’
Putin’s anti-ageing obsession was exposed during a visit to Beijing last year.
A microphone inadvertently caught him discussing organ transplants and the prospect of humans living to 150 with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
Maria Vorontsova, Putin’s daughter, is among those leading the longevity drive
Kovalchuk told a scientific forum in Moscow: ‘We are conducting screenings of elderly monkeys to observe all stages of ageing
Putin told Xi that advances in transplantation could allow people to become progressively younger – perhaps even achieving immortality.
‘The longer you live, the younger you become,’ he said.
Putin later told an AI conference: ‘It is probably possible to reach 150.’ He then claimed this was not long enough.
It comes as Russia is conducting fast-tracked scientific research on 3D-printing living tissue and xenotransplantation, or growing human organs inside mini-pigs deemed genetically compatible to humans.
Putin’s scientists are also developing the ‘world’s first drug’ to delay ageing by blocking the key RAGE gene.
MSN
