Russian president Vladimir Putin has not been seen since March 5th and the internet rumour mill is in overdrive.
Despite the Kremlin quashing rumours and insisting that he is in perfect health, the world has been wondering where Vladimir Putin has disappeared too.
Tongues started to wag during the week after a trip to Kazakhstan was postponed and representatives from South Ossetia were told not to bother flying to Moscow for a treaty signing. Most interesting of all, Putin was also absent from a meeting with officials from the F.S.B. Russia’s domestic intelligence service.
Some of the theories range from the potentially plausible (he is ill or injured) to the more creative (he was overthrown in a palace coup endorsed by the Russian Orthodox Church) to the completely wild (that the Americans have him since he was about to release satellite images proving 9/11 was set up by the Bush administration). There is also a theory that he is in Switzerland to witness the birth of his child with rumoured lover Alina Kabaeva.
This is not the first time President Putin has gone missing, in 2000 he dissapeared after the Kursk submarine sank and two years later he again dropped off the radar after terrorists seized a Moscow theatre. All eyes will now be on Monday, when Putin is scheduled to meet the president of Kyrgyzstan in St. Petersburg.
Wherever he is, Twitter has been going crazy with guesses, here are some of my favourites:
I want to know what happened to Putin but I’m only on episode 5 so no spoilers
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 14, 2015
Vladimir Putin is not missing. He’s posting day and night on Google+ but no one ever bothers to check there.
— Sea Tea (@Tierno158) March 15, 2015
Putin isn’t missing. He has entered The Putinsleep. In a thousand years, he shall rise again, powerful beyond comprehension.
— Jeff Loveness (@JeffLoveness) March 14, 2015
If you would like to keep track of how long Putin has been missing down to the second, you can do through this website http://laaake.com/
