Dead Drop: June 3

FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT:  Vlad wouldn’t try to fool us, would he? Some folks think so. The Russian president recently (reportedly) visited a military hospital in Moscow to meet wounded soldiers. It was unclear exactly what wounds the two men pictured with Putin had suffered, but they were well enough to stand at attention when he entered their room. Wearing matching blue PJs, they then shook hands with Vlad who was clad in what appeared to be a white lab coat. What caught some peoples’ eye was that one of the wounded warriors looked very much like a guy Putin was pictured with during a previous visit to an industrial facility. Cynics think the entire scene might have been staged. The wounded soldier/factory worker may be just the designated bystander approved for “Putin meets with people” shots. The possible fake photo reminded us of another story, where pictures surfaced of Ronald Reagan in 1988, possibly showing then-KGB officer Vladimir Putin (pretending to be a tourist) among the crowd that greeted the American president during his visit to Red Square. 

MORE PUTIN MEDICAL NEWS:  The frequently fallacious British tabloid “The Mirror” says a Russian intelligence source (probably not the guy in the blue pajamas) says that Putin has be “given a maximum of three years to live by doctors.”  A purported FSB source says Putin “has a severe form of rapidly progressing cancer.” We don’t know but three years doesn’t sound too rapid to us. The Mirror also says that Vlad’s eyesight is failing, and he has to resort to giant cue cards when making public remarks. Late this week, Newsweek got into the game saying “three U.S. intelligence leaders” confirmed to them that a classified U.S. report says Putin recently re-emerged after undergoing treatment in April for advanced cancer.” So, maybe there IS some truth to it. Either that, or the officials have been reading the Mirror. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the weekend, denied Vlad’s health was bad, but of course.