Video claiming Putin is using body doubles goes viral in Russia as bizarre theory gains momentum
A video is going viral on Russian social media alleging that Vladimir Putin is scamming his people by using multiple body doubles for trips he doesn’t want to take.
It taps into speculation that the Kremlin president’s only trip to the newly invaded territory in Mariupol to date has been made by a lookalike, and asks, “Who rules Russia?”
It is unclear who took the footage, but it seems aimed at reaching Russians who depend on highly loyalist state media for their news.
The images ask the question: ‘Who visited Mariupol?’
It says: ‘Specialists long ago noticed the differences between the body doubles of the Russian president.
The video promotes the theory that Putin is using lookalikes for trips he doesn’t want to take
Kiev official Anton Gerashchenko posted three images of Putin’s chin, questioning whether they belonged to the same man. He jeered, “What’s with your chin, Putin?”
âA ridge on Putin’s earlobe is constantly changing.
âLike a little birthmark on his face.
âOne of the Putins has straight wrinkles on his face, the other has small and interrupted wrinkles [wrinkles].
“This is impossible, even if he’s had botox injections.”
It is widely believed that Putin has undergone regular plastic surgery as he has aged since he first became acting president on the last day of 1999.
There are rumors that Putin’s “students” – who have undergone plastic surgery to resemble him – are increasingly employed as his health deteriorates amid rumors of cancer and early-stage Parkinson’s.
“Apparently the weakest doppelgĂ€nger has been sent to Mariupol,” the video reads in Russian.
“They forgot to put it in his jaw.”
The video reads: ‘Specialists long ago noticed the differences between the body duplications of the Russian president’
It is widely believed that Putin has undergone regular plastic surgery as he has aged since he first became acting president on the last day of 1999.
Vladimir Putin’s first visit to Mariupol, occupied Ukraine, late March 18, 2023
The images ask the question: ‘Who visited Mariupol?’
The adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister also scoffed at Putin’s trip to Mariupol. He said: “It seems that his make-up artists (that is, for the bunkerman’s recent trips to occupied Crimea and Mariupol) have had to work with a rather low-quality copy, not even a duplicate, but his copy”
It wonders if this ‘double’ has false teeth.
It ends with the question, ‘After all, how many Putins do we have?
“Who Rules Russia?”
Ukraine previously mocked Putin for allegedly “sending a lookalike to war-ravaged Mariupol” during a high-security visit.
Kiev official Anton Gerashchenko posted three images of Putin’s chin, questioning whether they belonged to the same man.
He jeered, “What’s with your chin, Putin?”
The Interior Minister’s adviser posted: ‘It seems his make-up artists (i.e. for the bunkerman’s recent trips to occupied Crimea and Mariupol) have had to work with a rather low-quality copy, not even a double one, as of late but its copy.
“I wonder which one of them was real?”
A photo showed Putin, 70, addressing the Federal Assembly in Moscow a month ago.
Another example was Putin’s visit to the naval port of Sevastopol in Crimea on March 18.
And the third was of footage released the next day that clearly showed the dictator in war-ravaged Mariupol.
“Apparently the weakest doppelgĂ€nger has been sent to Mariupol,” the video reads in Russian
Ukraine also mocked Putin for allegedly “sending a lookalike to war-ravaged Mariupol” during a high-security visit
![The video claims, âOne of the Putins has straight wrinkles on his face, the other has small and interrupted wrinkles [wrinkles]'](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1679563994_320_Video-claiming-Putin-is-using-body-doubles-goes-viral-in.jpg "Video claiming Putin is using body doubles goes viral in Russia as bizarre theory gains momentum 18")
The video claims, âOne of the Putins has straight wrinkles on his face, the other has small and interrupted wrinkles [wrinkles]’
There are rumors that Putin’s “students” – who have undergone plastic surgery to resemble him – are increasingly employed as his health deteriorates amid rumors of cancer and early-stage Parkinson’s.
The first image showed his chin tight and precise.
But the Sevastopol image – taken from Ukraine in 2014 – caused a drooping chin, while Mariupol’s chin appears firmer, but less so than in the Moscow photo.
Two of Putin’s former associates have also suggested he uses doubles.
A former KGB spy who studied with him at the spy school – Sergei Zhirnov – said he until now believed claims that Putin used doppelgĂ€ngers were “conspiracy theories” – but has changed his mind.
He contrasted a formal speech in Moscow by an isolated, “thin” and coughing ex-spy Putin on February 21 with a performance at a pro-war rally the following day in the city.
In this case, “a completely different Putin emerges” with “a wider face as if he has a bloated feeling in 24 hours,” he told Ukrainian TV.
“He’s got a totally different shape of eye sockets, a totally different head, totally different wrinklesâa different voice.”
And a former Putin speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov warned that the existence of several lookalikes poses a risk if Russia plunges into a coup over its failed war policies.
“The presence of a double can be disturbing: you think you have arrested Putin, but it turns out that you have detained his understudy,” he said.
“You can arrest a stand-in, show him on TV signing his ‘resignation,’ and announce the handover of power to the Prime Minister or to some National Salvation Commission.”
But it would be necessary for the “original Putin to prove that he is him, and not a double.”
He stated: “In short, if the doppelgĂ€nger exists, then the people responsible for its movements are potentially very important participants in the process and the conspiracy organizers should not forget them.”