The Daily Mail puts forward another possibility of what they call a "stealthy coup" to explain Vlad's 9 day vanishing act.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... urish.html$1:
Vladimir Putin is 'alive' but 'neutralised' as shadowy security chiefs stage a stealthy coup in Moscow, it was claimed last night.
Former FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev was behind the plot, claimed chairman of the pro-Kremlin national Islamic Committee, Geydar Dzhemal.