On 8 March 2026, a number of Russian official channels published a video in which Putin greeted Russian women on International Women's Day — a routine occurrence — except at 02:50, he began to grunt and cough, and instruct the filming team on how to re-take the shot. The clip was deleted shortly afterwards, and it's unclear whether this was a mistake or an intentional leak from the media team. Some Russian political bloggers started pushing theories about "intentional ridiculing" of their "dear leader".