EASTORA REPORT | A laboratory run by a longtime ally of Vladimir Putin is turning to some of Russia’s oldest monkeys to explore a question that fascinates the president himself: how much longer could humans live?
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The Kurchatov Institute’s breeding facilities house more than 7,000 primates from 22 species, including an unusual group of monkeys aged 20 to over 30. Scientists are studying the older animals to understand how their bodies change with age, institute president Mikhail Kovalchuk told reporters Tuesday, November 10, at Moscow’s Kurchatov Genomic Forum.
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“We are now screening elderly monkeys to look at all stages of aging,” Kovalchuk said. The work covers animals from age 18 into their 30s, combining biochemical and structural tests with examinations of blood vessels and the brain. Primates offer a close comparison with human biology, he said, and could help researchers develop approaches to longer, healthier lives.
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The institute has also joined forces with the Petrovsky Russian Research Center of Surgery to assemble a bank of blood samples from long-lived primates. Konstantin Kotenko, the surgery center’s director, said the collection will help researchers examine biological changes associated with aging.
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Kovalchuk is more than a research administrator. A member of Putin’s longtime inner circle, he is regarded as an informal adviser on scientific issues. Russia has made longevity a national priority, aiming to raise life expectancy while extending the years people remain healthy and active.
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Putin’s interest became unusually public in September 2025. During a military parade in Beijing, an open microphone captured him discussing organ transplants with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Putin’s interpreter spoke of biotechnology making repeated transplants possible; the conversation turned to predictions that people might one day live to 150.
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That ambition remains far beyond what the Kurchatov work has achieved. The scientists are studying how aging unfolds, not reporting a proven treatment to reverse it. For now, their most concrete advance is a bank of blood samples from monkeys that have already lived unusually long l