Putin’s vanishing act reaches fever pitch
MICHAEL B KELLEY
BusinessInsider.com
MAR. 15, 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been seen in public since March 5, and the world is waiting to see if the 62-year-old casually returns or if his absence signals something far more serious.
Russia has been rife with rumors, including that he is dead or on paternity leave, while the government’s slick propaganda machine has slipped up by airing old photos — as well as news from the future.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin prepares to celebrate on the anniversary of annexing Crimea from Ukraine, and independent Moscow outlet TV Rain says Putin is recovering from the flu.
So perhaps this is just Putin being Putin, keeping the world off balance, or he came down with something and decided to wait it out in the background.
“Putin is nothing if not capricious. He enjoys keeping people waiting … and guessing, it’s part of a display of the trappings of power,” Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, noted to Business Insider on Friday.
However, there’s a big issue with the idea that Putin’s disappearance is a well-calculated: The Kremlin has been stumbling.
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