Putin to meet Kyrgyz leader Monday after absence from view

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been out of public view for more than a week, will meet Monday with the president of Kyrgyzstan, the Kremlin announced Friday.

Putin earlier this week postponed a planned summit with the leaders of Kazakhstan and Belarus, drawing attention to his unusual long hiatus of public appearances and raising speculation that he was ill. His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Putin's "health is really perfect."

On Friday, state television showed footage of Putin meeting with the head of the Russian Supreme Court at Putin's residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, outside Moscow. In the footage, the Russian leader showed no obvious sign of disability. The Kremlin statement did not say what day the meeting took place.

Putin's last appearance on television had been Tuesday.

His planned meeting Monday in St. Petersburg with President Almazbek Atambaev is to discuss Kyrgyzstan's joining the Eurasian Economic Union, a nascent Moscow-led trade bloc that also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia, the Kremlin said.