A series of chilling clues suggest Vladimir Putin may indeed already be dead – as a Ukrainian spy chief has sensationally claimed.
Major-General Kyrylo Budanov – who is in charge of drone strikes and undercover ops against Russia – spurred on suspicions that Mad Vlad could be using a body double in his place.
It’s not the first time wild rumours have been raised over whether the dictator is using body doubles for public appearances amid his bloody war against Ukraine, The Sun reports.
Footage of the war lord displaying odd behaviour and changes in his appearance have left people questioning whether the conspiracy theories could be true.
It comes after an interview with Anzhelika Rudenko of Radio Svoboda, where Ukraine intelligence chief Budanov said: “The Putin who everyone used to know was last seen around June 26, 2022.”
Rudenko later asked directly whether he believed Putin to be alive or not, to which the intelligence chief said: “I don’t know what to answer you.”
When the Radio Svoboda presenter claimed she thought it was a body double posing for Putin, Budanov agreed.
Crucial watch error
In August he appeared to forget which wrist his watch was on, despite always infamously wearing the A$24,531 Russian-made Raketa on his right arm.
The President glanced at his left arm and looked confused after realising his flashy timepiece was not there.
The awkward moment further fuelled rumours that a body double was used in his place for the meeting of the Russian Council for Strategic Development and National Projects.
Later in the meeting, the Kremlin leader, 70, was also seen taking it off entirely and fidgeting with it in his hands.
Telegram channel General SVR claimed at the time that the sickly leader now permanently relies on a doppelganger for public appearances.
It was suggested that he ropes in lookalike actors to take his place and ensure his reportedly weakening health remains under wraps.
The channel wildly claimed Putin’s body double appeared to have simply forgotten that the dictator habitually wears his watch on the “wrong wrist”.
The post read: “Having read out a voluminous speech … the understudy frankly got bored.”
Changing ears
Not long before the strange appearance, Ukraine pointed to questions around the tyrant’s changing ears as proof of his doppelganger deception.
Ukraine’s Budanov told Ukrainian TV in August that Putin’s ears and height appeared to have changed in his public appearances.
“The picture, let’s say, of the ears, is different,”
“And it’s like a fingerprint, each person’s ear picture is unique. It cannot be repeated.”
Ukrainian news outlet TSN claimed the intelligence chief said he believes the Russian president is seriously ill and using body doubles to avoid public appearances.
He claimed that although very similar, the Putin body doubles “have different habits, different mannerisms, different gaits, sometimes even different heights if you looked closely”.
Moving mole
And a trip to occupied Mariupol in March saw Mad Vlad face claims that a doppelganger was sent in his place when footage flagged inconsistencies in his facial features.
The footage asked the question: “Who visited Mariupol?”
It read: “Specialists long ago noticed the differences between the Russian president’s body doubles.
“A ledge on Putin’s earlobe constantly changes. As does a small mole on his face.
“One of the Putins has straight wrinkles on his face, the other has small and interrupted [wrinkles].
“This is impossible even if he had Botox injections.”
The anonymous creators of the clip included a series of images comparing the difference in Putin’s features to back up the claims.
Despite denying he has had any tweaks, the war lord is believed to have undergone several cosmetic procedures over the years.
Sagging chin
Another ‘clue’ that seemed to fuel the wild rumours came when images of Putin from three separate appearances were used to compare his chin.
One, taken in a February address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow showed the dictator’s jawline appearing tight and neat.
Another was from his reported visit to naval port Sevastopol in Crimea in March where his chin appeared to sag.
Footage from his face during the Mariupol visit seemed to show him with a firmer chin, but noticeably less so than from his address in the capital.
Kremlin “insider” Telegram channel General SVR – that claims to have sources in the Russia state – said the real Putin never visited Mariupol.
They claimed that “the double was filmed but did not talk much and did not stay anywhere for a long time.”
“The whole country is already laughing over the inconsistency of the understudy with the original” in appearance, behaviour and habits.”
Two former Putin associates, Sergei Zhirnov and Abbas Gallyamov, have also suggested that the despot uses body doubles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky even previously suggested that the leader may already be dead, amid suspicions he used a “chroma key” green screen to fake his attendance at meetings.
Rumours are now consistently growing that he relies heavily on his “understudies” to stand in for him as he struggles to disguise his ailing health.
Bombshell spy documents previously leaked to The Sun appeared to confirm he has pancreatic cancer and early-stage Parkinson’s disease.
It is also alleged that Putin even enlisted several lookalikes to go under the knife for plastic surgery to ensure they closely resemble him.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission.
