Vladimir Putin has not appeared in public for nearly a week. Russia’s person No 1 was last seen on March, 5 at the talks with Italian Prime Minister, rbc.ru reports.
After that the Russian president had only one public meeting on March 8, where he allegedly met with mothers of outstanding children. Later it turned out that Putin’s personal cameraman had filmed the event in advance, on March 5…
The cancellation of Putin‘s meeting with presidents Lukashenka and Nazarbayev in Astana has become a tipping point. According to Reuters, the Russian leader is ill.
Putin is very much alive
Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov denounced the rumours about the disease and sudden death saying they may be hit by ‘spring fever’.
“When the sun comes up in spring, and as soon as spring is in the air, then the fever begins,” Peskov said. “Someone dreams of [Rosneft CEO Igor] Sechin resignation, others — of government resignation, while others have not seen president Putin on TV for several says,” he told news agency TASS.
But The Russian Monitor has different information. According to the letter of one of the magazine’s readers, who works at the Central Clinical Hospital Administration of the President, Putin was diagnosed with ischemic stroke. However, the e-zine neither refutes nor confirm the information provided by the source.
Putin as hero
The public is hardly aware of Putin’s real state of health. The Russian state propaganda keeps promoting the subject of the president’s physical strength and cultivating his image of a hero and a muscleman. Indeed, at the outset of his career Putin stood in a harsh contrast with the old and tired Boris Yeltsin.
‘In your dreams!’
Rumours about Putin‘s health problems started to fly in autumn 2012. Then Reuters, citing its own sources, reported that the Russian president had a back ache and faced a spine surgery. “This does not correspond to reality,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters. He said the earlier limp had been a ‘sports injury‘
In the end, Putin commented on the rumours himself. He noted that such speculation came from his ‘political opponents and added: “In your dreams!”
‘Bite your tongue!’
On October, 24 NYpost.com published an arlicle claiming Vladimir Putin has pancreatic cancer and that’s is the reason for his hurrying to invade Ukraine.
“Bite your tongue! Everything’s fine,” Peskov said in response to Putin’s supposed illness.
Pre-arranged visits of top officials are rarely postponed, and bloggers continue to suggest versions on what is actually happening to Putin. He may be planning further invasion, may have died or caught flu, Internet users say.
