Has Putin Died? What We Know, What We Don't

[William769]

Rumors surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin's health have doggedly followed him throughout his time in power, often without evidence to support them.

Earlier this week, a story that he had suffered a cardiac arrest led to headlines around the world. The Kremlin denied the claims saying "everything was fine with him."

Now, however, this reported slide in health has allegedly reached its nadir, if the newest rumor is to be believed.

A Telegram post by Russian gossip channel General SVR, on October 26, 2023, stated that Putin died at his residence in Valdai at "20.42 p.m Moscow time" on Thursday, sparking "a coup d'état in Russia!"

"Now the doctors are blocked in the room with Putin's corpse, they are being held by employees of the presidential security service on the personal order of Dmitry Kochnev, who is in touch and receives instructions from the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev," the post added.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/has-putin-died-what-we-know-what-we-don-t/ar-AA1iXxNJ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=cc9f8d57fc6948aca52279e2bbb4b64f&ei=41

[The Magistrate]

1. I'll Wait Till I See A Kremlin Denial, Sir, Before I Believe It

[JohnSJ]

3. I am waiting for an AI image of him denying it.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

5. I thought I saw a denial earlier nt

[sybylla]

72. The Russian Dude on YouTube shared a couple denials this morning.

Not sure how "official" they are but they come from a high ranking official in the government who keep saying stuff he doesn't need to say.

?si=ZAZ-yREPA-eSziQy

[gab13by13]

2. Lol.

[Lovie777]

4. He can settle it by coming on tv..........................

not AI, but physically him. Now I have been reading that the Russian soldiers in or around Ukraine are starting their coup, per se.

[Sky Jewels]

11. And it needs to be the real Vlad,

not one of his body doubles.

[AllaN01Bear]

50. and not his stunt doubble .

[MineralMan]

6. Who Can Say?

We can't go and check on him. Nobody can, really. So, unless we see him alive, maybe he's dead. Or maybe not.

Uncertainty is a terrible thing.

How will we know? When will we know? Do we care if we know?

Funny business those Russians are all about...

[Ocelot II]

8. Schroedinger's Russian Despot?

[MineralMan]

12. Exactly. Google can translate this:

Я ничего не знаю. Я ничего не вижу. Я ничего не слышу.

[William769]

21. Sounds like sgt. Schultz

[MineralMan]

25. Indeed.

[Xolodno]

60. That gave me a good chuckle.

I won't believe he's dead until it comes out a number of his inner circle suddenly descend on Moscow or St. Petersburg. And a lot of armed guards suddenly appear. Then a lot of secretive diplomatic activity in Minsk, Beijing and Tehran. The about a week later, they'll announce his death and who is taking over.

But that won't end the war, like many here hope it would.

[liberalhistorian]

66. The whole thing is so very Russian!

If it's not true (and who the hell knows anymore?), it's a typical piece of Russian disinformation propaganda. If it IS true (and, again, who the hell knows anymore?) the subsequent reported reactions and actions are also so very Russian!

[Ocelot II]

7. Probably a hoax, but I wouldn't be sad if it turned out to be true.

[Meadowoak]

9. Someone should drive a stake through his heart just to be sure he's not faking.

[brush]

15. Yes, I'm ok with that. Heehee.

It it's true, they can't keep it under wraps for forever. Just build him a crypt next to Lenin's in the Kremlin, move on and let the power struggle commence.

Meanwhile, I'll stock up on popcorn and wait to enjoy the show.

[Wonder Why]

56. I wouldn't waste a good steak on him. Just throw him on the grill, too!

[EYESORE 9001]

10. True or not

I’ve got a hankering’ for Swan Lake.

[Vogon_Glory]

13. Weekend with Bernie?

[Chainfire]

14. Show me.

[FrankBooth]

16. I'm itching to start the mourning process

So let me know when it's official.

[Bird Lady]

17. I will believe

when I see the funeral.

[Maru Kitteh]

22. Caveat - funeral WITH a clearly visible body in high definition. Nt

[dobleremolque]

18. Is Russian media playing "Swan Lake?" That's supposed to be the traditional signal. n/t

[totodeinhere]

19. If he really did die they won't be able to keep that a secret for long.

n/t

[KS Toronado]

43. Exactly what I'm thinking

[Maru Kitteh]

20. The picture of being locked in with Putin's rotting corpse is quite vivid, but

I think his actual death would be too difficult to conceal. I would not, otoh be surprised to find out he did have an MI and is in a hospital doing rehab. That, he probably could and would hide.

[lpbk2713]

23. He'll be getting ripe pretty soon.

And the swarms of flies will give him away.

[Maru Kitteh]

30. Flies are good nutrition. Those doctors will be getting hungry and

It would be dangerous to eat rotting Putin, especially when not cooked or stored at proper temperatures. Safety first!

[kimbutgar]

24. I am so hoping this rumor is true

He is an evil man who needs to be stopped. His bogus war in Ukraine should be the final nail in his coffin.

[Irish_Dem]

26. Also to consider, Putin would fake his own death.

He is old school KGB. 100% certain he has more than one escape plan.

He is the richest man in the world, and has the resources to find some hidy holes.

[William769]

29. Anything is possible.

One thing is not. Death.

Hopefully, we will find out soon enough.

[Irish_Dem]

42. If things heat up too much for Putin, he will do his own extraction.

But yes we can also see for ourselves that his health as been poor.

[orleans]

27. is trump crying? aren't they besties?

(has trump EVER cried for anyone but himself?)

[JoseBalow]

32. Psychopaths are incapable of empathy

drumpf only cries over spilled mashed potato

[calimary]

48. Wow - that sure sums him up.

[rubbersole]

35. donnie dollhands will be draped over his coffin...

..like Nancy Reagan was over St. Ronnie.

[Ray Bruns]

28. He's not dead. He's says he's feeling better.

He might go for a walk.

https://m.

[William769]

31. LOL

[JoseBalow]

37. Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.

[madamesilverspurs]

33. Meanwhile,

has anyone seen Trump digging a deep hole on one of his golf courses?


.

[bluestarone]

34. True or false? Maybe if we watch what happens in Ukraine?

If he IS dead wouldn't Russia start pulling back at some point? We'll see i guess.

[2naSalit]

36. As soon as...

Confirmation is made, I'll be celebrating.

[William769]

38. We all will be, especially the Russian People.

[AverageOldGuy]

39. All I can say is . . .

. . . if he is at death's door, I pray his doctors can pull him through.


Hmmmm. Wait . . . that didn't come out right. Or did it?

[Marthe48]

40. I have vodka I'll pour over his grave

Right after I run it through my kidneys

[calimary]

49. Good one!

It’ll be a highly refined custom vintage then.

[Marthe48]

55. Tan his hide, Clyde

lol

[CloudWatcher]

41. Wishful thinking

General SVR has somewhat less credibility than the dead parrot of Monty Python fame.

Sadly, if wishful thinking could have killed Putin, he would have been dead decades ago.

[Mr. Evil]

44. For those who remember...

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[JoseBalow]

63. I always loved that hearing impaired bit with Garrett Morris!

It reminds me of the translator in Bananas...

[Warpy]

45. Konstantin at "inside Russia" says no way

because there is no successor waiting in the wings, no opposition ready to run in the sham election, and no sudden appearance of fancy cars around the Kremlin as meetings take place among the movers and shakers of the country, the last being a dead giveaway that a shakeup of some sort is going on and the power struggles are occurring behind those thick Kremlin walls. There has been no sign of activity in Moscow.

Well, there was one unusual thing, a delegation from Hamas was invited for some sort of talks,

Konstantin thinks Putin will be gone by the end of the year, walking for feet first. I hope he's correct.

[calimary]

53. But death has a way of not being stopped by such things.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I’d guess an effort might be made to hide the truth, but I suspect it would be too big an explosive secret to be kept for very long.

[DFW]

46. Putin is probably laughing his ass off at how often he can get away with this

The second the Russian state media start making a point about his robust health without being asked--THAT'S when we should start to take the rumors seriously.

[peggysue2]

47. Wow!

This is turning into a great movie script. Dictator suffers fatal heart attack, officials hide the fact from the public, paranoia sets in and dictator's physicians are locked in room with corpse (which will ripen in short order) to avoid any loose lips regarding Dear Leader's demise. Meanwhile, a palace coup/scramble begins, big dogs and little dogs fighting over power.

What to do, what to do?

Will the doctors be executed? Will one of Putin's infamous 'doubles' be pushed onto the world stage while the palace dogs continue to snarl and growl and tear one another to pieces until only one is left, emerges as the Great Protector of Mother Russia.

Lots of narrative potential here. LOL.

Gotta say, the rumors are entertaining, far more than the grim reality of Vladimir Putin's treacherous rule.

[JoseBalow]

62. Moon Over Parador

[peggysue2]

70. LOL!

Good take. Made me laugh, always a good thing in troubled times.

[iluvtennis]

51. My glass half full viewpoint of this is it's good news so that his invasion of Ukraine and killing

innocent civilians can end.

[Prendy]

52. Like a Movie

I think someone has been watching “The Death of Stalin” too many times.

[JoseBalow]

64. That was a mostly factual account of Stalin's death though

Life imitates Art imitates Life

[Bluesaph]

54. So silly. If he died his BFF Trump would have blabbed

I’m sure he’s in contact with his buddy.

[Wonder Why]

58. Popcorn & Vodka, anyone?

[Thunderbeast]

59. A very popular Russian joke...

Near Red Square, a man approaches a news stand, and buys the morning paper. After glancing at the front page, he throws the paper in a trash bin. The next morning, the same man comes to the news stand, buys a paper, and throws it in the trash again.

On the third day, he returns. The man in the kiosk asks him "Why do you buy a newspaper only to look at the front page?"

"I am looking for an obituary" the man replies.

"Obituaries are NOT on the front page" says the vendor.

"THIS ONE WILL BE!" replies the man.

[JoseBalow]

65. That joke could earn you 5 years in the Gulag,

Comrade

[TwilightZone]

61. "Russian gossip channel General SVR"

Anyone who read that phrase and still believed the story needs to take a remedial course on critical thinking.

And, yet, it got 100+ recs on DU. We could probably improve in the area of vetting our sources.

[muriel_volestrangler]

67. 24 hours after this supposed "coup d'etat" was meant to have happened, you bother starting a thread about it?

Can't be much of a coup d'état if bugger all has changed in Russia, can it?

Why are DUers obsessed with an anonymous Telegram channel that's talked bullshit in the past?

[William769]

68. It was a current Newsweek article

Sorry if that does not meet with your approval.

I had not heard anything about this till I read this article.

[muriel_volestrangler]

71. Well, that's part of the point - Newsweek is an awful rag these days

that repeats crap it reads on the internet. You hadn't heard anything about this because respectable media doesn't run with internet rumours from an anonymous source known to make stuff up.

[LudwigPastorius]

69. "...this reported slide in health has allegedly reached its nadir, if the newest rumor is to be believed."

*Morgan Freeman Narrator's Voice* "It isn't."