Vladimir Putin attended a meeting with Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev today, scotching rumors of ill health. Looking fit and relaxed, the Russian president met the press and joked about all the speculation surrounding his disappearance from view for 10 days. Reuters: Russian President Vladimir Putin laughed off suggestions he had been forced to lie low because of poor health, saying on Monday that life would be "boring without gossip". In a carefully choreographed double-act, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev also vouched for the Russian leader's health, saying that Putin "just now drove me around the grounds, he himself sat at the wheel" after they met in St Petersburg. Putin smiled easily as he sat before television cameras in the Constantine Palace in Russia's second city in his first public appearance since March 5. "It would be boring without gossip," Putin, looking relaxed if pale, told reporters. Putin's...(Read Full Post)