The last few times people searched for terms like “dead Putin,” “Vladimir Putin,” “dying Putin,” and “Putin died news” and received almost 417,000 impressions. Here the question is why people are searching terms like this. Let’s continue to the article and know the actual reason behind the “Putin dead” rumors.
Is Vladimir Putin dead?
Many Russians turned to the popular search engine Yandex in October to learn about President Vladimir Putin’s health. This sudden increase in searches was caused by false rumors circulating around the world that he had a heart attack.
Agentstvo, an investigative website launched in 2021, uncovered some intriguing data. Search terms like “dead Putin,” “dying Putin,” and “Putin died” received over 417,000 views. These searches for Putin’s alleged death ranked among the top 12 searches for the term “Putin.”
The rumor about Putin’s health, which the Kremlin categorically denied as a “hoax,” began on October 26 with a Telegram post by the Russian gossip channel General SVR. According to the post, Putin died at his Valdai residence at “20:42 p.m. Moscow time.”
The presidential security service was also holding doctors in a room with Putin’s body, according to the post.
What are the reports saying?
According to reports, this was ordered by Federal Protective Service Director Dmitry Kochnev, who was acting on instructions from Russian Federation Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. The post also expressed concerns about the safety of a stand-in president and the possibility of a coup if a double was presented as president following Putin’s death.
Another post from General SVR, dated October 23, described officers discovering the president convulsing on the floor, his eyes rolling. It seemed to imply that he had been transferred to a specially equipped room for resuscitation.
While the post stated that the president’s condition had stabilized and that he was being monitored by doctors, it also stated that Putin’s inner circle was concerned because attending doctors had reportedly indicated that he might not survive until the end of autumn.
Fake Rumors “Putin Dead” Spreading through Telegram Channels
It’s worth noting that General SVR, a Telegram account with nearly 500,000 followers, has previously made several false claims. The author of the channel’s identity has remained unknown. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, categorically denied Putin’s cardiac arrest and death, calling it “just another hoax” and assuring that “everything is fine.”
In addition, despite the Telegram posts, President Putin has continued to make public appearances, including attending government meetings. According to the Agentstvo report, the peak of Yandex searches for Putin’s “death” occurred between October 23 and October 29, coinciding with the posts published by General SVR. In October, there were 6.3 million searches for “Putin.”