Vladimir Putin has talked about living to 150. Now a science institute run by his close friend has created a bank of blood samples from long-lived primates in search of a way to slow aging.

The Kurchatov Institute, headed by Vladimir Putin’s close friend Mikhail Kovalchuk, has teamed up with the Petrovsky Russian Research Center of Surgery to create a bank of blood samples from long-lived primates.

Scientists will use it to study how aging works, the surgery center’s director, Konstantin Kotenko, said at the Kurchatov Genomic Forum. The independent outlet Agentstvo first reported his remarks.

Speaking at the same event, Kovalchuk said research on monkeys would lay the groundwork “for creating a regulatory system for extending [human lifespan].” He said the institute’s breeding facilities house more than 7,000 monkeys of 22 species. Scientists are examining primates aged 18 to over 30, studying the condition of their blood vessels, brains, and other organs.

Mikhail Kovalchuk, like his brother, billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk, belongs to Putin’s inner circle and is considered his informal adviser on science.

In 2024, Meduza and Sistema reported that Mikhail Kovalchuk may have been one of the main forces behind a state anti-aging project. A source close to the Kremlin attributed the project’s creation to “an obsession amplified by lobbying.”

Putin, who is 74, shares Kovalchuk’s interest in extending life. In September 2025, during Putin’s visit to China, a broadcast accidentally picked up his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two discussed the possibility of living to 150, and Putin said biotechnology makes it possible to “continually transplant” organs and “even achieve immortality.”