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Russia's President Vladimir Putin has allegedly used a body double again, with sources claiming the real Putin “only speaks to doctors” now.
Since first ordering his troops to invade neighbouring Ukraine, the despot has been dogged by rumours of his imminent demise by way of failing health. This has been accompanied by rumours of him constantly using body doubles for public appearances.
And the latest appearance of the fake Putin was allegedly during a high-profile trip to China . . . with the country's leader Xi Jinping seemingly aware of the entire thing. Political scientist Valery Solovey, who studied at the London School of Economics, said: “The extraordinary claim would mean that it was a fake Kremlin leader who was today seen flanked by Russian naval officers carrying his nuclear briefcases with the secret control to launch a hypersonic atomic war.
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“The fact is that the current President Vladimir Putin is living out the last days of his earthly life, not months, and not weeks, but precisely the last days due to terminal illness. He is currently, like in previous months, being successfully replaced by his double – the double even goes to Beijing, and the Chinese side know very well who they are dealing with.”
Telegram channel General SVR, which claims to be run by a Kremlin insider, echoed this view saying the meeting with Xi was the most “exciting” for the double’s handlers. Solovey claimed that Putin’s leading security adviser and war hawk Nikolai Patrushev, 72, holds the “trump cards” as head of a “large coalition” in the race for the succession, however, “this does not mean that the victory of Patrushev’s coalition is predetermined,” he said.
The Chinese went along with pantomime in the hope that the doppelgänger's role would facilitate the existing group around Putin securing the succession, it was claimed. Ukrainian channels today seized on an image of Putin speaking behind a flower bedecked lectern in Beijing, claiming that “Putin is emerging from his coffin”.
General SVR channel said that “important differences” with the real Putin were “visible” in Beijing “despite the careful preparation of the understudy” for the meeting with Xi and other world leaders. “The fault is again with the double's ‘floating’ cheekbones, which do not stay in place and move in different directions,” they said.
“The double initially had less expressive cheekbones, which, as a result of plastic surgery, were 'enlarged' and made similar to Putin’s cheekbones, but it was impossible to make sure they stayed stationary in the right places.”
The Kremlin has, however, constantly denied that Putin is ill or dying.
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- Vladimir Putin
- China
- Russia
- Health issues
- Russia Ukraine war
- Ukraine
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