Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't been seen in public for a week, stirring a wide range of rumors, jokes and hopes about his absence. In Ukraine, where thousands have been killed in Russia's war against the nation, one of the rumors -- that the Russian dictator has died -- triggers celebration instead of sorrow. Another -- that he has been replaced in a palace coup -- would also be welcomed by many in Ukraine.
But many also think that Putin’s disappearance from public view is a way for the Kremlin to deflect attention from outrage over the Feb. 27 murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and the reported rift between the “siloviki,” Russia’s Federal Security Service, and pro-Putin Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Whatever the case, the last time Putin was seen in public came during his meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on March 5.
The public took notice of the president’s absence on March 11, when it was announced that a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, originally scheduled for March 12-13, was postponed.
On the same day Reuters cited its sources in Kremlin saying that Putin was sick. His spokesman Dmitriy Peskov denied it, saying that Putin is so healthy that “his handshake breaks hands.”
Ukrainians lay funeral wreath near the Russian Embassy in Kyiv on March 13 to commemorate Vladimir Putin’s “death” with the message “For Vova khuilo. Thank you for dying.”
The Kremlin has made attempts to show Putin remains active. Throughout the week it published photos and a video from three meetings that Putin conducted with officials. Russian RBC online newspaper checked the messages and proved that two of the meetings actually happened earlier.
The rumors that circulated in Ukrainian and foreign media offered various reasons for Putin’s ascence. Many speculated that the Russian president had a stroke or even died. Swiss newspaper Blick claimed that the real reason was that Putin’s rumored mistress Alina Kabayeva, former gymnastics champion, was giving birth to their baby in a fancy maternity house in Tichino, Switzerland.
Dead man or a happy father, Putin has given Ukrainians, as well as Russians, an occasion for discussions and jokes. Dozens of cartoons, collages and jokes were found online.
A fake photo shows Vladimir Putin in an open casket in the middle of a desert. An Orthodox priest holds flaming torches in the hands behind the casket.
Screenshot from Twitter: “What if they are cloning another one Putin now?”
A simple website was set up to show the number of days, hours, and seconds since Putin was last seen. At the background of the counter runs a record of the “Swan Lake” ballet, that was run on the Soviet TV in 1991 in the time of the August Сoup attempt.
Another website, called Putin Died, shows only a “Check if Putin has died” button, and offers various answers, like “Sorry, not yet” and “Are people around you celebrating? No? Then he’s alive.”
