When the rumours are on the level of "is he dead, seriously ill or possible removed from power", they are already damaging his position as a leader.
In an authoritarian regime, any suggestion that the leader might be gone soon is blood in the water, and the ensuing power struggles can seriously damage a regime's ability to operate. Under normal circumstances Putin would have already made a public appearance to kill these rumours. Standing on his own two feet for a couple of minutes and speak two coherent sentences is enough for this purpose, so it's not like some flu could be the case here.
Of course the other option is that Putin is SO confident of his power that he simply went fishing for a couple of weeks and gave orders not to bother him unless Russian soil is attacked.
But really I think one of the most likely suggestions is that he's had cosmetic surgery and has to wait for the scars to heal before turning up again. He is after all a very image conscious president. If that's the case it mostly speaks well of his ability to kill gossip leaks.
Interesting situation in any case.
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