President Vladimir Putin was really sick when he disappeared from public sight for 11 days in March, tell Russian military to their American counterparts.

According to The Times, the Kremlin concealed from public Putin"s disease, so that the Russian president did not seem weak and was not compared to Boris Yeltsin.

An unnamed member of a "Group of Elba" meeting (association of retired senior US and Russian military) told that one of the Russian officers had revealed that Putin had really been sick in early March. This is what made him to disappear from public.

"He told that Putin firmly holds power, and complained that Russian culture of politics and leadership is not developed enough and is unable to recognize the fact of any disease or weakness of the Russian leader," – reports the article.

Earlier, other British newspaper, The Guardian wrote that the Kremlin was trying to protect the myth that "Putin is never sick."

President Putin was not on public from March 6 to March 16. This made media to create a number of versions of his disappearance, including a disease.

Nevertheless, on March 16, Putin appeared on public during the meeting with the President of Kyrgyzstan in St. Petersburg.