VLADIMIR Putin has fuelled rumours he has multiple body doubles after revealing his old pals no longer recognise him.
The 71-year-old leader has been seen looking sick and bloated as his health continues to spiral downwards, according to Ukrainian reports.
Rumours around Putin having up to three body doubles have been fuelled by recent comments by the leader saying his pals no longer recognise himEast2West
APThe Russian tyrant admitted at a recent talk about how his old school pals don’t believe they’re talking to the same Putin they grew up with[/caption]
Russia’s fierce leader said at a recent talk that when he meets his old school mates and university chums they question if it’s really him.
Putin reportedly said to a small group of people in Chukotka: “When I meet my classmates or fellow university students, they often look at me and say – ‘I don’t believe it, is it actually you, or not you?’”
Before he continued saying: “You see, a person doesn’t always know how they would behave when they find themselves at a certain level of responsibility.”
Dr Valery Solovey, a former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations has been at the heart of recent claims saying Putin uses doppelgängers.
Solovey has accused the Kremlin of covering up their leader’s death since October 2023, and pretending he is still alive and well.
The ex-professor – who was brandished as a foreign agent by the Kremlin – doubled down on these remarks after hearing Putin was now joking about being unrecognisable.
He said: “The so-called ‘Putin’ publicly complained that his friends no longer recognised him and believed that they were dealing with a double.”
Solovey also made a sensational claim that Putin’s lifeless body is being stashed in a freezer as his security chief Nikolai Patrushev secretly runs the Kremlin with the help of the body doubles.
Ukraine’s military intelligence has also made claims saying Vlad has at least three body doubles who will all be “killed” when no longer needed.
The Putin actors are kept under strict guard and “constant surveillance” by the Russian secret services and have no independent lives, according to spokesman Andriy Yusov.
Yusov said “we know about at least three” doppelgängers, and they are strictly under the control of Russian secret services.
“They live under constant surveillance,” he said in an interview with leading Ukrainian TV journalist Alesya Batsman.
“These are people who certainly do not belong to themselves.
“[They undergo] constant training, including surgery in order to conform to some common [appearance]. And, of course, constant total control.”
It follows allegations that the dictator’s New Year Address broadcast sent across Russia was made by an AI Putin.
The Russian president’s neck appeared out of sync with his body, as if his head was superimposed for the televised speech, observers claimed.
Others believe doubles are used because Putin is seriously ill or hiding in a bunker, paranoid over his safety.
Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov – the head of Ukrainian military intelligence directorate HUR – claimed last year that the real Putin has not been seen since June 2022.
Despite the Kremlin always rubbishing claims of a potential Putin replacement the accusations have been around for some time and have transcended the globe.
In October, a Japanese AI analysis claimed Vlad does use body doubles.
A report for major Japanese TV network TBS understands that at least two Putin doubles have been seen at different events.
Research based on facial recognition, voice comparison, and body movements indicates there are several different Vlads.
It is even suggested that he may have been deploying doppelgangers for many years that have been ageing with the 71-year-old president.
Ukraine’s military intelligence have claimed Putin has three body doubles and the Kremlin are using them to hide their leader’s true health statusAP
GettyOther rumours suggest Putin died in October 2023, and is being stored in a freezer[/caption]