Several media had noticed the disappearance of Sergei Shoigu, raising questions about his health. He is usually a familiar face on television screens: he and Vladimir Putin regularly put themselves on the stage.
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Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made his first public appearance in two weeks, according to images released on Saturday March 26, after an absence which had raised questions that the Kremlin had tried to sweep away.
The Defense Ministry released a video on Saturday showing him chairing a meeting on Russia’s arms budget. The images are undated, but the minister refers to a meeting with the finance minister which Russian agencies say took place on Friday, March 25.
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed speculation about the minister’s state of health. “The Minister of Defense has a lot to do at the moment (…) it’s not really the time to do media activity”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Vladimir Putin and he regularly put themselves on the stage in stays in the Siberian taiga or at the wheel of all-terrain vehicles.