article_snippet: According to Vladimir Putin's staff, Vladimir Putin was discussing judicial reform and the likely increase in the number of bankruptcies as as result of Russia's economic collapse.
article_snippet: Vladimir Putin was last seen in public on March 5.
article_snippet: It comes amid increased speculation over what has happened to Vladimir Putin with Vladimir Putin not having been seen for a week.
article_snippet: The Russian embassy in Kiev refused to comment on a report on the speculation in newspaper Blick.
article_snippet: The image was meant to scotch suggestions that Vladimir Putin was not at work amid speculation over a coup or illness.
article_snippet: However, there were immediate claims the picture and TV footage was old, and that it was further evidence of the chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev mystery absence.
article_snippet: Current rumours in Moscow include Vladimir Putin suffering a stroke, or an unfolding palace coup, following Vladimir Putin sudden cancellation of a scheduled trip to Kazakhstan.
article_snippet: With Moscow in febrile mood, a former senior aide to the strongman claimed another ex-KGB spy is being urgently lined up to take over from another ex-KGB spy.
article_snippet: After this switch, dubbed a 'conspiracy of generals', Putin - currently the subject of swirling rumours over Vladimir Putin health after not being seen in public for more than a week - would be swiftly ousted.
article_snippet: This latest forecast of an imminent sea change in Russian politics came from Andrei Illarionov, Putin's former chief economics aide, who last year predicted Putin's land grab against Ukraine three weeks before it happened.
article_snippet: After this, 'the public is likely to be informed that the national leader (Putin) needs a well deserved rest'.
article_snippet: Observers note that in recent days, Ivanov - who retained the military rank of colonel general and whose eldest son was killed in a mysterious drowning accident in Dubai last November - has been little seen in public.
article_snippet: And Medvedev, who served as president for four years to 2012, is also out of the limelight.
article_snippet: Some Kremlin-watchers say that Western sanctions have created huge tensions inside Putin's fractious entourage in recent weeks, with cash streams closed off.
article_snippet: The murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov - branded a 'provocation' by Putin - has only intensified the infighting with blame for Putin - has slaying blamed on the president's close allies in Chechnya.
article_snippet: Illarionov, a senior follow at the Cato Institute in Washington, earlier alleged a cover-up by the Russian authorities over Nemtsov's shooting yards from the Kremlin.
article_snippet: Putin is said by Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to be 'exhaustively' working on documents but has - most unusually - not been seen publicly since 5 March, more than a week.
article_snippet: the Kremlin insists The former gymnast is healthy, but this has done nothing to end speculation from Russians who for years were lied to over the health of geriatric Soviet leaders, and also Putin's predecessor Boris Yeltsin. '
article_snippet: Peskov's assertion that Putin is in good health, however, could also mean recent developments in Russian politics required Putin's presence in Moscow,' stated The Moscow Times today. '
article_snippet: A heightening of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the investigation into whose death was reportedly accompanied by signs of an increased power struggle within the Russian administration, could have kept Putin busy behind closed doors.'
article_snippet: In December, Putin brushed aside claims Putin could be overthrown. '
article_snippet: Ivanov, at 62 the same age as Putin, was a career KGB who studied English in Ealing during the Cold War.
highlights_snippet: It comes as the Kremlin fends off allegations of an impending coup .
  
highlights_snippet: This to be followed by an announcement Vladimir Putin needs a break, This is claimed .