The Deaths of Soviet Leaders

[American Patriot]

Just thought I'd throw this in here for future reference....

1 November 2012 Last updated at 14:36 ET

Soviet and Russian leaders: Their illnesses and deaths

The response to rumours surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin's health has evoked comparisons with how the ailments and afflictions of previous Kremlin occupants were reported.
Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has played down concerns about the president's health, saying he suffered a minor sports-related injury but is still able to carry out his duties normally.
Suggestions that Mr Putin was limping, and reports that he had postponed several foreign trips prompted some media to speculate he had suffered an injury during a hang-glider flight last month which was getting worse.
No-one has suggested there is anything more seriously wrong with Mr Putin than back trouble.
The BBC Russian Service has been investigating how Moscow's authorities have dealt with the illnesses of its leaders since 1917, and the deaths of those who died in office.
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)


Died aged 54 after a second stroke. Rumoured to have suffered from syphilis, though there is no proof of that.
He is the only Soviet leader whose state of health was not secret, and medical bulletins were published regularly.
Josef Stalin (1878-1953)


Died aged 75 of a stroke. The news of his illness was published only a day before his death, when he was already unconscious. After his stroke he was left alone for a few hours by his staff, who were afraid to disturb him.
The Soviet leadership of the time also did not know what to, since the death of Stalin was considered unthinkable. In the four days between his stroke and death, he received practically no medical attention while Soviet leaders jockeyed for position.
His death was announced on 5 March.
Nikita Khruschev (1894-1971)


Died aged 77. Details about his life - and health - were kept out of the public eye after he was removed from his post and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev in 1964.
Krushchev had five heart attacks, the last of which was fatal.
He was not granted a state funeral and, reportedly fearing demonstrations, the Kremlin delayed announcing his death until the last minute, surrounding the cemetery where he was buried with troops.
Pravda dedicated one sentence to the death of the former leader.
Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982)


Died aged 76. The reasons for his death are still unclear, though during his last years he had problems speaking, suffered from occasional memory loss and had problems with co-ordination.
Yuri Andropov (1914-1984)


Died aged 70 of kidney failure. News of his illness was never broadcast.
Konstantin Chernenko (1911-1985)


Died aged 74. It is known that he suffered from emphysema and caught pneumonia. News of his illness was never broadcast.
On 10 March he fell into a coma, and later that day died as a result of heart failure. He became the third Soviet leader to die in less than three years.
Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007)


Died aged 76 in retirement. Apparently he suffered five heart attacks while in office, none of which were reported in the press. He also drank a considerable amount of alcohol.
Given the appearance of a free press in Russia, rumours about Yeltsin's heart condition and alcohol consumption were widely circulated, including the fact that he suffered a heart attack two weeks before elections in 1996.
The press also reported that Mr Yeltsin underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery in November 1996. But those rumours and the surgery were never officially confirmed.

[American Patriot]

1 November 2012 Last updated at 05:01 ET Russian President Putin's work 'not affected' by injury


Vladimir Putin flew in a motorised hang glider alongside a Siberian white crane in September



Vladimir Putin's spokesman has admitted that Russia's president is suffering from an injury, but denied media reports that it is affecting his work.
Dmitry Peskov said the president had "pulled a muscle", adding that it was sports-related.
Mr Peskov dismissed claims that the injury had got worse after Mr Putin's flight last month with Siberian cranes.
Mr Putin, 60, has recently postponed a series of foreign trips, and media reports suggested he had a back injury.
And in a recent TV documentary made for his birthday, the Russian leader was seen limping.
'Traffic jam' concern On Thursday, Mr Peskov told Russia's Kommersant FM radio station that his boss indeed had "an old injury".
"It's a common sports injury - Vladimir Putin pulled a muscle," the spokesman said, without adding any details about where the injury was.
The speculation in Russia's media started last week after Mr Putin had put off a summit with other leaders of counties from the former Soviet Union. He has also postponed trips to Bulgaria and Turkey.
But Mr Peskov said that the dates for those visits "have not been fixed".
Kremlin officials earlier denied that the real reason for the much-curtailed schedule is that the president is suffering from a bad back and may need an operation, the BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow reports.
Mr Peskov also said the president had hardly left his country house outside Moscow in the past two weeks because he did not like his convoy causing traffic jams in central Moscow.
Mr Putin - a black belt in judo - has over the years portrayed himself as a macho man.
Russia's state-run TV has shown videos of him tagging whales, swimming in freezing waters, horse-riding barechested and even saving a TV crew from a tiger.

[American Patriot]

Putin Lays Low, Spokesman's Reasons Seem Odd


By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press
MOSCOW November 1, 2012 (AP)




What ails Vladimir Putin?
The Russian leader whose image of physical vigor is key to his success has canceled several foreign trips in recent weeks and has rarely left his suburban residence outside Moscow.
A respected Russian newspaper claimed Thursday that a publicity stunt in which Putin tried to lead cranes on their migratory paths in a motorized hang-glider aggravated an old injury.
Putin's office denies it was the flight with cranes, insists it is just a pulled muscle and spins the situation, saying that athletes often get banged up. Besides, it says, Putin's avoiding the Kremlin office so he doesn't tie up Moscow traffic with his motorcade — something that hasn't seemed to trouble him during his previous 12 years in power.
So what's really wrong?
Combine the old Russian custom of keeping a leader's health problems secret with a massive PR apparatus that micromanages information about Putin to the nth degree and what do you get? A lot of speculation.
After celebrating his 60th birthday in early October, Putin has rarely left his official residence, sparking claims that illness or injury had laid him low.
On Thursday, the Vedomosti daily cited unnamed Kremlin-connected sources as saying Putin's September flight with the cranes had aggravated an old injury.

AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a... View Full Caption




Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state news agency that Putin had pulled a muscle during a workout but it was not connected to the highly publicized flight.
"Indeed, he pulled a muscle," Peskov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying. "Actually, we have never tried to conceal it because any athlete has lots of injuries, which, however, do not mean any restrictions of his activities."
By writing off the injury as a sport-related trauma, Peskov apparently aimed to reinforce Putin's image of vigor and daring — a persona he has assiduously cultivated since coming to power in 2000. State television has shown him swimming in a Siberian river, petting a tranquilized polar bear in the Arctic and piloting a fighter jet, as well as skiing and practicing judo.
The hang-glider flight with the cranes, which took place just before a summit in Vladivostok, was one of Putin's trademark adventurous media events. Yet on the first day of the summit, Putin did seem to be in discomfort as he greeted leaders and avoided standing for long periods of time.
Peskov was quoted as saying that Putin was making only infrequent trips to the Kremlin lately because he didn't want his motorcade to disrupt Moscow's notoriously bad traffic.
Putin's motorcade does force the shutdown of large stretches of highway, an inconvenience that many irritated drivers mark by blaring their horns angrily as the presidential car races past.
Putin has also put off several expected trips abroad, including ones to India, Turkey and Bulgaria. The Interfax news agency cited Peskov as saying there was no single reason behind those changes.
Despite the canceled trips, Putin is still shown on state television almost daily — mostly sitting at meetings with officials.
A Moscow-based political analyst said the health problems of Russian leaders in the past have often led to political crises.