Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently taken a few days off, and hasn’t been seen around the Kremlin recently.  After skipping a regular weekly meeting and failing to show at an event in Kazakhstan, Russian officials are now fending off rumors about Putin’s health.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov insists, “There is absolutely no reason for any doubts about the state of his health,” adding that the president’s handshake was so strong it could “break your hand”.  But the last time Putin was seen in public was 5 March, meeting with the visit Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi.

Putin was a no-show at the weekly meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB).  Before that, he called off a visit to Kazakhstan.  A Kazakh official told Reuters, “The visit has been canceled.  It looks like he (Putin) has fallen ill.”

Also on Wednesday, the Kremlin issued a photo of Putin meeting with the regional governor of the Republica of Karelia.  But the Vesti Karelii website reported that the meeting actually took place a week earlier. 

In an open society, these things aren’t really a big deal.  In an authoritarian country where the president’s word is the final arbiter of manly truths, unexplained absences lead to rumors and speculation.  Unlike during the times of his predecessors of the Soviet Union or even Boris Yeltsin, these rumors now have a home.  The hashtags #WhereIsPutin and #PutinIsDead are surging in Russia.