Putin 'body double'
prompts incredible claim from Ukraine spy
Putin 'body double' prompts incredible claim from Ukraine spy
Tara Meakins·News Reporter
Mon, 31 October 2022 at 11:43 am·3-min read
In this article:
Vladimir Putin
President of Russia
Kyrylo Budanov
Chief of Defense Intelligence
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence reportedly claims Vladimir Putin is using at least three body doubles who’ve had plastic surgery to look like him amid ongoing rumours about the Russian president’s health.
Major General Kyrylo Budanov believes Russia has rolled out multiple doppelgangers to cover up the 70-year-old’s loss of control in the Kremlin, The Mail on Sunday reported.
He says stand-ins have been called up before on “special occasions” but it’s “usual practice” now.
“We know specifically about three people that keep appearing but how many there are, we don’t know,” the man dubbed as Moscow’s Public Enemy Number One said.
“They’ve all had plastic surgery to look alike.”
Major General Budanov claims there are a few key details that highlight the ruse.
“The one thing that gives them away is their height,” he told the Mail.
“It’s visible in videos and pictures.
“Also gesturing, body language and earlobes, since they are unique for every person.”
Does the real Putin still exist?
Major General Budanov questions “whether the real Putin still exists,” pointing to Russia’s “disastrous” invasion strategy.
“No matter how bad” Putin was in the past, he said, “he was not an idiot,” adding that Russia’s war “does not follow any logic.”
While he refused to be drawn on whether the president has disappeared due to ill health or a coup with the Kremlin, he went on to explain Russia is running out of guided missiles.
“Change is inevitable” in Moscow, he said, adding that a new political order in Russia is needed in the interests of the “whole civilised world.”