Has Putin Been Overthrown in a Palace Coup?

Yesterday, I reported that Russian president Vladimir Putin hasn't been seen in public in days. March 5 was his last public appearance and several scheduled public appearances have been canceled since then.

Now, NYT is on the case with this report:

Andrei Illarionov, a former presidential adviser, wrote a blog post suggesting that Mr. Putin had been overthrown by hard-liners in a palace coup and that Russians could anticipate an announcement soon saying that he was taking a well-deserved rest.

Touching all bases, NYT also tells us Putin may just have the flu:

The simplest explanation appeared to come from an unidentified government source in Kazakhstan, who apparently did not get the memo, and told Reuters “it looks like he has fallen ill.”

Since half of Moscow seemed to be suffering from a particularly devastating strain of flu that knocks people on their backs for days at a time, that seemed the most likely explanation.

The next scheduled Putin public appearance is for Monday when he  is scheduled to meet with the president of Kyrgyzstan in St. Petersburg.

 -RW