Posted on 03/12/2015 8:44:11 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Chechen leader’s brazen support for murder raises fears of a bitter power struggle close to the heart of the Russian state.
Is he ill? Is he too busy trying to contain a power struggle at the top of the Russian state? Is he really going to fire Igor Sechin, his strong right arm?
Moscow is awash with rumors about President Vladimir Putin, who hasn’t been seen in public in nearly a week. He’s also postponed a trip to meet with the presidents of Kazakhstan and Belarus, two important neighbors, and–even more intriguingly–skipped one of his favorite diary items, an annual address to his old colleagues at the Federal Security Service, or FSB (successors to the KGB).
A country that depends on a personality cult around a strong, unifying leader doesn’t need this kind of absenteeism. After all, it’s less than six months since Vyacheslav Volodin, Putin’s deputy chief of staff at the Kremlin, told an audience of international analysts and journalists that “Without Putin, there is no Russia.” By the government’s own logic, the prolonged absence of Putin begs the question–what is happening to the Russian state?
Things look even fishier, viewed close up. The newspaper RBC exposed inconsistencies in the Kremlin’s version of what Putin is supposed to have been doing earlier this week. RBC’s sources “close to the Kremlin” said that, of two meetings with regional governors that supposedly happened at the Kremlin this week, one was done remotely, and the other took place last Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
You say that sort of thing because you're dedicated to anything that confuses how things work in Russia. Kadyrov delivers 99 percent of the vote in Chechnya for Putin's party (that's not an exaggeration), names city streets and buildings after Putin, and Chechen troops have been used against Georgia and Ukraine, the latter as "separatist forces fighting against the Ukrainian Nazi Junta". Kadyrov belongs to Moscow. If he didn't, he'd already have been poisoned with Polonium or ice-picked to death in Mexico.
“A country that depends on a personality cult around a strong, unifying leader doesn’t need this kind of absenteeism.”
America has a president who exists as a result of a personality cult. Absenteeism sounds pretty good to me.
They’ve been talking about doing it for years.
He’s probably in rehab.
The same source (Fortune) is reporting today that Putin is back out meeting folks, with photos released:
http://fortune.com/2015/03/13/putins-back-in-the-saddle-if-only-russias-economy-were-too/
Perfect.
Putin is just probably taking some time off for gymnastics lessons.
I would expect the Medvedev would be on Putin’s side, not on the side of the coup.
Though to be honest, maybe that is why it has happened. He was a place holder, and expected to step aside. Medvedev might not have wanted to do so.
Yeah, that's what Harry Reid claimed those two times he got beat up in a truck stop restroom by some "rough trade".
Wise words.
Putin getting killed may well cause all hell to break loose.
I’m sure the NSA knows where he is. If not, they can ask Snowden.
Don’t think so. Could be for any reason. But sometimes they do a disappearing act or deliberately spread rumors to gauge reaction from others.
Has Putin’s new kid been born yet?
Wonder where he will stash the mistress and the baby.
Personal WA guess: visiting with separatists in eastern Ukraine to give them an attaboy morale boost.
Wait, Hillary has been missing, Putin is missing. hmmmmmmmm
Has his gf been missing for a week too? On December 22, 2014 it was reported that she was caught on camera with massive security going to buy coffee in Moscow. http://www.vocativ.com/world/russia/facebook-post-putins-girlfriend-security-sparks-storm/ - pregnancy usually shows especially at 6 months. Any recent photos of her looking pregnant? Don’t know.. just a thought.
The fact behind the rumor is that Putin is not seen anywhere and missed several meetings, and there is an unusual amount of government transportation activity in Moscow. Whether Medvedev is in charge and on whose side, is pure speculation.
However, Medvedev has a much softer image, and has a cover of legitimacy, so if it was indeed a coup, he would be a convenient figurehead.
The questions remain...
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