The Moscow Times reports that Russia’s Ministry of Health has pressed research institutes to provide immediate updates on their efforts to combat aging, cognitive decline, and osteoporosis, as well as to strengthen the immune system.

"We were asked to urgently send all of our developments, and the letter arrived, let’s say, today, but everything had to be sent yesterday," one researcher told Meduza.

The urgency is reportedly driven by Mikhail Kovalchuk, a 77-year-old scientist and close friend of Putin. Kovalchuk, who heads the Kurchatov Nuclear Research Institute and has ties to a state-funded genetics program that includes Putin’s eldest daughter, endocrinologist Maria Vorontsova, is said to be leading the push for life-extension research.

"The big boss set the task, and officials rushed to implement it in every possible way," according to a Kremlin insider.

Kovalchuk is described as being "obsessed with eternal life."

He reportedly pitched the idea to Putin.