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THE KREMLIN HAS dismissed reports that Vladimir Putin is in ill health, after the Russian President hasn’t been seen in public for a week.
Putin (62) postponed a trip to Kazakhstan this week, leading many people to speculate about his health.
He also postponed a meeting to sign an alliance agreement with the leader of the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, and did not show up at a meeting of the FSB security agency.
Putin was last seen in public on 5 March, when he met Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
“There’s no need to worry, he’s absolutely healthy,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Echo of Moscow radio station on Thursday.
He said Putin was busy with Russia’s economic crisis and has “meetings constantly, but not all meetings are public.”
Asked if Putin’s handshake remains firm, Peskov laughed and said: “It breaks your hand.”
However, he evaded a question on when Putin would next be seen on television.
“As soon as the sun comes out… and it starts smelling of spring, people start getting delusions,” Peskov told TASS agency.
The last time the Russian president’s health prompted such speculation was when he cancelled a number of foreign trips in 2012 after appearing to have developed a limp, which the Kremlin said was due to a sports injury.
The Moscow Times had some fun with the whole situation, asking ‘Where’s Vladimir?’
Meanwhile, the paper’s web editor made this wry observation:
With reporting from AFP
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Doubt its polonium poisoning. He drinks that in a shot glass.
One can hope.
@ Martin. I reckon he has plutonium transfusions at least once a month – either that or botox! But seriously, there’s a bit of a difference between the headline and what was actually said ‘he could break your hand if he wanted’ compared to the comment that Putin’s handshake is still firm and it would break your hand.
Putin has a bear carpet in his sitting room, it’s not dead, it’s just scared to move.
Sooner he crokes the better
He caught the limp off Kim Jong Il from North Korea. It’s called Despot Gout.
To be fair to Putin he is in much better shape than Kim Jong Un. Unlikely he has gout
He’s ill alright sick in the head.
Why?
Surely not as bad as MURDERING over a million people on a PACK OF LIES in Iraq , Afghanistan ……have people lost their minds or what ? Here you are calling Putin this and that while you support GOVERNMENTS that MURDERED over a million people on a pack of lies ……..not a single SANCTION for killing a million people on a pack of lies……..one word , DISGUSTING……..
Oh what a relief it will be for the Chechens, the Georgians and the Ukranians that Putin is a saint who would never dream of attacking them.
You are all so wrong and stupid all looking at CNN sky news and RTE lol Ireland is now full of gobs*its i give up!!!! do you all think Enda is the MAN?? the US and the UK are fu*king the world up big time killing hundreds of thousands of women and kids and you are all taking the piss out of Putin does not make any sense! all hitting the big red thumb when someone points out the Facts.
Putin doesn’t flush the toilet, he scares the sh!t out of it……
Chuck Norris would kick his ass.
I don’t know
I’ll give 2/1 on Putin any takers?
Putin would cheat by sending in his army, murder thousands, deny everything and still blame everybody else for being fascists.
Robin
As far as you’re concerned
All bets are off!
Glen, I knew you would be on here to back up your favorite dictator.
It’s funny how you criticize Obama and make the claim that he wants to stay in power beyond his term, which is a lie as he will step down when his term is up but you don’t criticize putin who has been in power for 15 years and has no plans to step down.
Can you please explain that contradiction of yours to me glen.
Declan
You really really seriously need a sense of humour.
It’s only a touch of small man syndrome. Should be back on his size 5s in no time.
I seriously doubt his size is an explanation for any of his behaviour, Idi Amin was one of the most vicious dictators in modern history and he was 6 ft 5.
@ Peter. Just like Enda
Maybe his height wasn’t the size he was concerned with?
what ? Putin was against the illegal war in Iraq that killed a million people…..he was against the total destruction of Libya……..and Russia are the aggressors ? you guys need to get your heads checked out by a doctor because it does not look good at all lads…….
Remind me again how the good people of Grozny got on with little Pooty-poot?
No point they are to stupid to see what is in front of their face.
Putin has been spending some quality time with a very good and close male friend. In private, Putin craves the pleasures of male companionship.
He’s a small little man trying to look 30 but that wont happen, seriously he is a mad man and will continue to use his fear to eliminate anyone who opposes him. Good luck to future candidates i hope they win.
If he’s hated that much why all the interest. There had been a massive outcry of concern for Putin.
Haven’t you ever heard of infamy?
Yeah
Worst band ever!! Seriously they are beyond sh!te.
Russians love Putin
The west pretends they don’t and naive people believe them.
Of course Russians love Putin. Anyone who criticises him eventually ends up dead or in prison.
The west are bulling because Putin has ran rings around them over Syria and Crimea.
Graham
Putin catches some amount of grief on here and I don’t see any of his haters dead or in prison.
Your electricity must have been cut off last week.
Yea we don’t live in Russia Glen that’s probably why we don’t see many of his so called haters dead, and I doubt Putin sees a comment thread on the Journal as potential source of unrest in his own country he probably prioritises which voices to silence, namely those in Russia.
That female rock band were locked up for anti Putin song they wrote
@graham. There’s more anti Kremlin sentiment than you think and it’s more tolerated than the west is led to believe. Russian social network platforms are full of anti Putin sentiment and demonstrations in Moscow are not uncommon. There are those (not me) however who see him as the epitome of Russian manhood. Physically very fit, an ex gymnast (ex?) girlfriend and a PhD.
Putin is not the bogey man the west want us to see him as. He is very popular and much respected by ordinary people in his own country
People in Russia criticise the government openly and regularly despite what you are told by Murdock s media.
Pfft…in former communist Russia, hand breaks president
The Cold War is here again. Make no mistake about that. The modern world can only go so long before a major war breaks out. Can you just imagine the the army getting in on the action. Sorry lads stop fighting our government has only enough money for us to fight from 9.30 till 11.00 and 4.30 till 7.00. Any other fighting will have to be passed by the troika first. Sadly that’s the way of ireland
He’s the only one standing up to the US ( O’bama) at the minute.
Yes, he’s a real trooper.
And while im at it johnnathan, you dudn’t mention Ukrain why?
Sometimes when people are ill they break other people’s hands…
Fair play to Putin , he was against the murder of a million people in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was against the destruction of Libya …….and we have morons on here calling him and Russia aggressors ……..god some people really are thick as two planks…………..
@Johnnathan Oh yeah he ws against a lot of things and did nothing about either, a lot of people in Russia live in poverty and as long as we say nothing about the things that happen over there Putin will continue mouthing about whats wrong with the world, it should start with him. People are afraid to talk in that Country.
Von, there are many people living in Ireland who are also living in poverty. I watched a Channel 5 last the other night about an estate in Darndale. OMG, these people couldn’t even afford to have their rubbish collected, the back yard was one big rubbish tip in a house where there are babies and small children. Absolutely horrific the conditions these people were living in. Some of the people interviewed were living in hell.
Have a look closer to home before you point at others
Some people just don’t know when to stop pressing the . key. Do you talk like you type, like really long pauses between parts of a sentence?
I see the punctuation police have arrived……………
Western media is obsessed with President Putin, I suppose they have to demonise him otherwise they will have to write the truth about how he has made our pathetic leaders look like total and utter incompetents. He has run rings around them making them all look very foolish indeed. President Putin has an approval rating at home that he likes of Obomber and Camoron can only dream off.
To all the paranoid freaks dissing Putin may I suggest you look under your beds later as the new western bogeyman might be under there.
Hi my name is kool tiger and I only comment on articles about Russia ’cause that’s all they pay me for!
Who pays you Justin?
@Kool tiger. I saw the program you are talking about and it was sad, but it had nothing to do with the Putin subject.
Von, you mentioned Russians living in poverty, I just advised you to look closer to home. There are poor people in every country and not just Russia.
35% of Irish people now live in poverty.
Niamh. The term Poverty is debatable. If you mean that an Irish person is poor because they only have a 22″ TV instead of a 50″ TV and they have a 00 reg car and not 151 reg. Where as in Russia you may live in a wooden shack and struggle to buy a loaf of bread or only have an open fire in winter where temps drop to -50C
How is russia a treat to Europe ?
America is the really treat to world security. It bombs the crap out of anybody with oil and no one in the west seems to care.
But Russia takes Crimea to stop nato taking over its naval base there. And all of a sudden Russia is a major treat the global security. We even have EU MPs taking about a EU army to protect us from Russia. Wtf ?
a threat !!!!! not treat
Well at least you acknowledge that Putin took Crimea to prevent the loss of his (leased) naval base.
It is very ironic that people on hear are taking the moral high ground with regard to the Nemtsov murder, Russia is a bad man lark………Veronica Guerin was shot dead not by John Gilligan but by elite in this country , it is being investigated at this very moment and not by the guards because it was those at the top who covered it up……..more to come on this……this is huge…….Brian Meehan has won an appeal for a miscarriage of Justice….so one of our greatest and bravest Journalists was murdered to cover up a huge crime in this country…….hold onto your hats people…
If the guards aren’t investigating then who is? Your buddies at tinfoilhats-r-us?
When will the findings be made public?
Kool will you give it a rest and stick to the subject pleasssssseeeeee
Von, I responded to the content of your post. Would you prefer replies that agree with you or are you one of those who doesn’t like to be challenged?
Nothing trivial I hope.
House will sort him out!
Kremlins sent news about tomorrows meeting “Putin did this and Putin did that”… Ooops, nice time traveling. But that is not the only case. Just after Nemtsov murder, Nemtsovs mother got “Sorry-telegram” from Putin. But as we all know how slow telegrams are in Russia – Putin had to send that telegram before the murder.
So, where is Putin?
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