Kremlin releases photos showing Putin at justice meeting

MOSCOW, March 13 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of Russia's Supreme Court met Friday, with the Kremlin releasing photographs to indicate Putin was in good health.

The meeting was not open to the media. The Kremlin website published photos of Putin and Supreme Court President Vyacheslav Lebedev, who met to discuss streamlining the Russian judicial system and the merger of the country's two highest courts.

Putin, 62, had not been seen in public since March 5, and a postponed visit this week to Kazakhstan fueled speculation he could be ill.

With a busy schedule described nightly on Russian state television and his absence from several other high-level events this week, there have been suggestions of illness. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Moscow radio station Echo Moskvy on Thursday, "There's no need to worry. Everything is fine."