Neurologists studied the 63-year-old’s walking style after being puzzled by his unique style.

The team found Putin has a "gunslinger’s gait” – a movement possibly influenced by his training with the former Soviet intelligence service the KGB.

He walks with a rigid right arm, prompting speculation in the media that me may have suffered a stroke or be as a result of Parkinson’s disease.

Lead author and neurologist Bastiaan Bloem said in the British Medical Journal: "Searching for possible explanations, we encountered a training manual of the former KGB.

"According to this manual, KGB operatives were instructed to keep their weapon in their right hand close to their chest and to move forward with one side, usually the left, presumably allowing subjects to draw the gun as quickly as possible when confronted with a foe.”

The study also found no other symptoms of nervous system disease in Putin.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, former defence ministers Anatoly Serdyukov and Sergei Ivanov, and Col Gen Anatoly Sidorov were studied and were all found to have the "gunslinger’s gait”.

The revelation will further add to Putin’s macho persona.

The president has been pictured riding shirtless while horseback in the Russian forest and is an 8th degree black belt in the martial art Kyokushin.

He is also good friends with Hollywood hardman Steven Seagal – who appeared in the 90s action flick Under Siege.

A bizarre theory emerged this week suggesting Putin is immortal after incredible photos claim he was alive in 1920 and 1941 – and hasn't aged a day.

(dailystar.co.uk)