MOSCOW — Speculation is swirling in Russia about the state of Vladimir Putin’s health, as an unusual spell outside the public eye fuels the rumor mill. On Thursday, the Russian president’s spokesman sought to quash such talk, saying in an interview that Putin’s health is “really perfect.”
Dmitry Peskov said that Putin has a busy agenda in the coming days, including some international meetings. He said that next week the president is set to make a trip to Kazakhstan, which had been planned for this week but abruptly postponed.
The 62-year old Russian leader was last seen in public March 5, when he hosted Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi before falling out of sight for a week — a highly unusual absence. The Kremlin insisted that the president had a few other official meetings in the following days, but some Russian media contested that and claimed they had actually taken place earlier.
Peskov rejected the allegations and insisted that the Russian leader was keeping his usual busy schedule.
Putin’s conspicuous disappearance from the public eye comes at a turbulent moment in Russia’s politics. Last week, Russia’s security agencies arrested five men suspected of involvement in the Feb. 27 killing of top opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin.
The suspected triggerman was a former senior officer in Chechnya’s police force, and the region’s Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov defiantly described the suspect as a brave soldier and religious man who wouldn’t do any harm to Russia.
Some observers say the arrests could signal a fierce battle for power between Kadyrov, who has run Chechnya as his personal fiefdom, and some top figures in Russian law enforcement agencies who have long viewed the Chechen leader with resentment.
