Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t been seen in public for more than a week, raising speculation that he’s sick.
Now the website Gawker is reporting Putin has the flu, citing an unnamed source in the CIA.
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But not everyone thinks Putin is sick.
Business Insider and Reuters are reporting that Putin’s absence may be due to “a power struggle” caused by the recent assassination of Putin political opponent Boris Nemtsov.
Business Insider pointed to a column written by former Putin economic advisor Andrey Illarionov suggesting Putin is out of the public eye because a “palace coup” is underway.
The publication interviewed Putin biographer and German political analyst Alexander Rahr, who said he expects Putin will resurface next week.
“Putin is not dead,” Rahr said in the interview. “Next week, he’ll reappear. He just took a vacation for a week. No one has said anything about this because it’s hard to explain to the public.”
Rahr said Putin’s absence is a sign of “cracks in the empire,” but that the public may never know what is happening behind the scenes in Moscow’s power struggle.
