The prominent players in Saturday’s dramatic Russian apparent failed coup attempt remain elusive days later, with even new videos of Defence Minister Shoigu and President Putin being of unclear origin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to survive an attempted coup — or at least an armed effort to force the resignation of his defence minister, who was accused of corruption and incompetence — on Saturday, but the key players in that intrigue appear to have not actually broken cover since.
Even during the events of the weekend President Putin himself was little seen, only breaking cover to make a brief address to the Russian people on Saturday morning, vowing harsh punishment on mutineers. He has not been seen in public in several days.
Despite that, Russian press releases have attempted to give the impression of business as usual. Per Russian state media outlet Tass, Putin had a call with the President of Iran to talk energy policy on Monday. The Kremlin also…
