Putin hasn't missed this many days in the public spotlight since he took over Russia. He's been missing since a meeting with the Italian PM on March 5...and is still missing! Power is so tightly control in Putin's hands that this many days 'away from the office' causes a national panic in Russia. Social media in the country has been taken over by the speculation of where Putin has gone.

Well, time to weed through some 'Where is Putin?' theories while we wait for more news...

1. He's Dead.
Ah, that's a pretty harsh outcome for a guy so well protected as Putin. Even in the old Soviet Days leaders were put out to pasture with medical retirement instead of being killed. Even if you could get past his personal guard, estimated to be up to 3,000 strong, as well as the 30,000 FSO bodyguards you would have to subdue a Judo master. I don't like your chances so I'm going to call this one. Putin isn't Dead.
en.wikipedia.org...(Russia)
en.wikipedia.org...


2. Putin is being Held while a Coup takes place.
Russia has a great tradition of holding the leader 'incommunicado' while powerful people take control of the levers of control. It's a reasonable guess given Russian History. It also looks to be wrong. There have been several attempts to show Putin still at work that have been debunked as not happening on the day the Kremlin claimed they happened.
www.nytimes.com...

The key mistake being the Rossiya24 broadcasting of a Putin meeting with another World leader. The report aired on Friday and talked about the meeting happening on Monday...the upcoming Monday after the weekend!!! The report was taken off air after a couple replays but the slip up was telling.
www.businessinsider.com...

Putin has clearly planned for an extended absence with multiple news stories to run on different days while he is gone. One could argue a Putsch leader could make the same plans, but that would be very difficult to keep a takeover secret while having canned news of Putin taking meetings ready to publish.

So is Putin being held with a Coup happens? Not very likely.

3. Putin is sick
Clearly people get sick, even great shirtless leaders like Putin. The guy is 62 years old despite the plastic surgery keeping him looking 40 something. Russian leaders hide any hint of sickness because it lowers popularity and makes election fixing that much more expensive. The fact that canned news stories of Putin were being spaced out in the Media suggest Putin isn't 'suddenly' sick. So no stroke, heart attack, accident. Putin could have scheduled a nose job or butt lift and be recovering from the procedure. This would fit with what the world has seen so far.

So Putin isn't suddenly sick. No stroke or heart attack. He could be getting some body improvements or bionic implants however.

4. Putin is having a baby with his Gymnast lover
This rumor hit the world when a Swiss paper claimed Putin rented two rooms at a Posh baby making clinic in Switzerland. Recommended by his good buddy Berlesconi no less! This is an odd rumor for a newspaper to print 'out of the blue'. Sure Putin has been romantically linked to this gymnast turned Duma politician who recently quit. However Putin fever doesn't generally run high in Switzerland so the story is a little odd. Sadly no evidence supporting the rumor has surfaced. Given how private Putin is about his family life I don't expect any solid details to come out supporting this theory either. However it does fit several pieces of the puzzle. Said gymnast did quit her excellent political job not too long ago. Possibly to transition into being a mother? Putin did divorce his wife. Possibly to remarry after enough time has passed for public opinion to find it acceptable?
www.blick.ch...

So Putin might be having another baby! In case you wanted to know...it's a girl!

These days there are just so many rumours propping up everywhere about Putin, Russia, Ukraine and the West.. And we all know that whatever affects Russia and the United States, affects the whole wide world.. This morning i heard of High Military alert in the United States and Russia. Latter this morning again RT (Russia Today) allegedly showed Putin meeting with the President of Kyrgyzstan. [img]http://rt.com/news/241069-putin-rumours-back-alive/[/img] Lets all just pray these are all rumours and not the dreaded precipice to WW3, May God help us all...

Putin has now showed up after 10 days public absence - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31904882