CONCERN has mounted over Russia’s central bank governor after she suddenly cancelled an appearance at an exhibition without explanation.
It comes amid circulating rumours that Elvira Nabiullina, 60, has undergone an unspecified surgery at the Kremlin.
Russia’s central bank has declined to comment on the rumours, Reuters reported.
The Kremlin has also refused to comment on the surgery rumours, appearing annoyed at the question.
“I do not consider this question appropriate at our conference call,” Putin’s spokesman told journalists today.
“This is absolutely personal information about health and we have neither the scope nor the desire to comment on it.”
Despite this, the Kremlin wished Nabiullina “health and strength”, it was reported.
The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, which has links to law enforcement, cited an unnamed source claiming that the banker had undergone surgery in the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.
The channel’s source said that the surgery was scheduled – but Nabiullina had been due to speak today at the ‘Finance Day’ forum at the Rossiya exhibition in Moscow.
This suggests the surgery, if true, was sudden.
The channel’s source indicated she “will not be able to perform duties for 14 days”.
VChK-OGPU acknowledged that they had “no other confirmation” regarding Nabiullina.
Yale educated Nabiullina is credited with being the decisive figure in saving the Russian economy from collapse when faced with Western sanctions during the war with Ukraine – and even prior to this.
For government officials, banks and investors in Russia, any details about Nabiullina’s health are of the utmost importance, given the power she personally wields over the rouble’s rates.
The banker has been credited with saving Putin from himself over the invasion of Ukraine.
Although, Nabiullina had been previously rumoured to be seeking to quit when Putin went to war in Ukraine, and later when he announced mobilisation.
He reportedly refused to accept the resignation of a woman who has come to be recognised as one of the world’s best central bankers.
In March 2022, one unconfirmed report said that she bluntly accused the dictator of plunging the Russian economy into a “sewer”, adding: “I am an expert in a completely different field.”
Her decision to hike interest rates to 20 per cent shortly after the war began and the imposition of capital controls were seen as crucial factors in defending the flagging rouble.
This prevented severe capital outflows that could have derailed Russia’s economy.
Putin has since claimed – contrary to foreign analysts – that his economy was booming during the war.
Nabiullina is hardly the first top Russian official to have mysteriously disappeared from the public eye.
Last month, Putin ally Vladimir Egorov was found dead after a suspected fall from a third-floor window.
It was claimed that the 46-year-old member of the ruling party United Russia suffered heart problems – although it remains unclear as to how this would have led to him falling out of a window.
In February, top Russian defence official and key figure in the funding of Putin’s war, Marina Yankina, 58, fell 160ft to her death in St Petersburg.
She was head of the financial support department of the Ministry of Defence for the Western Military District, which is closely involved in the dictator’s invasion.
Lukoil tycoon Ravil Maganov, 67, also fell from a window of Moscow’s elite Central Clinical Hospital in September last year.
Speculation swirled that his death could have been a murder, but reports indicated he had been in hospital for a longstanding heart problem and died on the spot after falling six floors from a window.
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