Putin: Proof of life

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jul 7, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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          <article>
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                <h1>Putin: Proof of life</h1>
                <h2><p>After going missing for more than 10 days, with no official explanation, Russia's typically high-profile premier resurfaced Monday in a state TV-broadcast of his meeting with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, according to the Washington Post. Putin rumors had been flying: He was the victim of a coup, a</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="290" scrolling="no" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/c/embed/e8372938-cbd1-11e4-8730-4f473416e759" width="480"></iframe></figure><p>After going missing for more than 10 days, with no official explanation, Russia's typically high-profile premier resurfaced Monday in a state TV-broadcast of his meeting with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, according to the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/putin-makes-first-public-appearance-since-march-5/2015/03/16/6088ab20-cbcb-11e4-8c54-ffb5ba6f2f69_story.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Washington Post</a>. <a href="http://crosscut.com/troll/date/2015/03/14/wheres-putin?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Putin rumors had been flying</a>: He was the victim of a coup, a stroke, the flu, etc. But Vladimir waved all that silly speculation aside with a breezy: "Life would be too dull without rumors."</p><p>So where was Putin for almost two weeks? Your guess is as good as ours.</p>
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After going missing for more than 10 days, with no official explanation, Russia's typically high-profile premier resurfaced Monday in a state TV-broadcast of his meeting with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, according to the Washington Post. Putin rumors had been flying: He was the victim of a coup, a stroke, the flu, etc. But Vladimir waved all that silly speculation aside with a breezy: "Life would be too dull without rumors."

So where was Putin for almost two weeks? Your guess is as good as ours.

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,