I don't know if they've followed this in Canada. Probably Putin will just turn up again without explanation, but it's an interesting snapshot into how personalized authoritarian regimes operate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...sparks-rumors/
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Everyone has their off days, but when you're the proudly virile and uncontested leader of one of the most-watched countries in the world, your days off make people nervous. Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't been seen for days, and now people are beginning to wonder why.
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The situation has sent state-run media inside Russia into a tailspin of failures, and has been a PR disaster to their credibility.
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To make matters more confusing, on Wednesday the Kremlin released an image of Putin meeting with the regional governor of Karelia. But local Web site Vesti Karelii reported that Putin actually had met with the head of the Republic of Karelia, Alexander Khudilainen, on March 4. In fact, RBC.ru reported that a number of events posted by the Kremlin appeared to have been recycled from earlier events. If this is correct, the last time Putin was seen in public may have been March 5, when he met the Italian prime minister in Moscow.
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http://uk.businessinsider.com/russia...-future-2015-3
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Russian state TV just published news from the future.
On Friday, Rossiya 24 reported a meeting between Russian president Vladminir Putin and Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev — even though the meeting is on Monday.
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Rumours are going wild in Moscow. One popular theory suggests he's already dead, and the news blackout is only to keep the power struggle for his follower behind the scenes.