Will The Real Vladimir Putin Please Come Forward!!

"With 'Putin's appearances at the same time in different places, evident differences in movements and now missing where 'Putin' has his watch, it is time for mainstream media to call Putin out: He uses one or two doubles."

Anders Aslund, economist, adjunct professor, Georgetown University, Washington

 

"You have probably heard that he has very many doubles who work instead of him while he sits in a bunker. Yet another lie."
"You see yourselves what our president is like: he always was, and is now, mega-active -- those who work next to him can hardly keep up with him."

"His energy can only be envied. His health can, God willing, only be wished for."

"Of course, he doesn't sit in any bunkers. This is also a lie."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

In this pool photograph distributed by Sputnik agency Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects via video link in Moscow, on August 22, 2023. Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/POOL/AFP 

Conspiracy theorists would have it that Russia's strongman is mortally ill, perhaps on the brink of death. Of course that might also be wishful thinking. But wishing won't make it so. The dictator that President Putin so admired, Stalin, was the subject of wishful thinking too. After he suffered a stroke and a heart attack those who jostled to become his successor certainly wanted him to get on with his appointment with death. It's entirely possible that Putin, who trusts no one, views everyone around him as a possible assassin. He plans to strike first. And, infamously, he does.

Ill health aside, and covering a serious health condition by having someone (or someones) sit in for him in public -- look-alike decoys -- could also represent barriers between Mr. Putin and any potential assassin. As for lingering behind in a bunker, that too is absurdly unlikely, given Russia's president's personal ownership of multi-million-dollar mansions tailored to his sense of luxurious entitlement and where he can retreat in comfort and security.

Anton Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian official and adviser to his country's minister of internal affairs commented on a video where Putin appeared to forget which wrist he wore his watch on, during a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects this past Tuesday. "Or that isn't Putin?" he asked. 

 

Mr. Putin's habit of wearing his watch on his right wrist tweaked observers to the fact that in the video he appeared to check the time looking for his watch on his left wrist as someone who habitually wears a watch on the left would do. Finding nothing there, he awkwardly dropped his left arm.

Previous peculiar incidents have given people reason to believe that the Russian president makes use of a body double. Rumours were fuelled when a photograph circulated of the Russian president with Chechen republic head Ramzan Kadyrov, with Putin appearing bloated, his skin mottled. This wasn't the Putin of shirtless horse-back riding, by any measure.

"Kadyrov posted a photo with Putin. Peskov confirmed that the meeting took place yesterday. In the photo, Kadyrov is very large and overwhelms Putin, who looks very small and old. By the way, how many days did Kadyrov spend in quarantine before the meeting? Or is it not…" Anton Gerashchenko