In October, hundreds of thousands of Russians used the popular search engine Yandex to seek information about President Vladimir Putin's health. This surge in searches followed unfounded rumors that he had suffered a cardiac arrest, which had made headlines worldwide.
An investigative site called Agentstvo, launched in 2021, uncovered some revealing data.
Search terms like "dead Putin," "dying Putin," and "Putin died" collectively received over 417,000 impressions.
These queries about Putin's alleged death were among the top 12 searches related to the word "Putin."
The rumour about Putin's health which the Kremlin vehemently dismissed as a "hoax," originated from a Telegram post by the Russian gossip channel General SVR on October 26.
The post claimed that Putin had passed away at his Valdai residence at "20:42 p.m. Moscow time," leading to "a coup d'état in Russia."
The post also mentioned that doctors were allegedly locked in a room with Putin's body and were being held by the presidential security service.
This was supposedly done on the orders of Federal Protective Service Director Dmitry Kochnev, who was receiving instructions from Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
The post went on to express concerns about the security of a presidential stand-in and the potential for a coup if a double were to be presented as the president after Putin's death.
Another post from General SVR, dated October 23, described officers finding the president in a convulsive state on the floor with his eyes rolling.
It suggested that he had been moved to a specially equipped room for resuscitation.
While the post claimed the president's condition had stabilized and was under medical supervision, it also mentioned that Putin's inner circle was seriously alarmed as attending doctors had reportedly indicated that he might not survive until the end of autumn.
It's worth noting that General SVR, a Telegram account with nearly half a million subscribers, has made several false claims in the past. The identity of the channel's author remains anonymous.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov categorically dismissed the rumour of Putin's cardiac arrest and death and labelled it as "just another hoax" and assuring that "everything is fine".
Furthermore, President Putin has continued to make public appearances including attending government meetings, despite the Telegram posts.
Agentstvo's report indicated that the peak of searches related to Putin's "death" on Yandex occurred between October 23 and October 29, coinciding with the posts published by General SVR.
During October, there were a total of 6.3 million searches involving the term "Putin".
