Russian President Vladimir Putin’s team denied the president suffered a heart attack (Picture: AP)
The Kremlin was today forced to deny Vladimir Putin suffered cardiac arrest this week, and uses body doubles due to failing health.
‘I can tell you there are no doubles when it comes to work and so on,’ said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Specifically on the heart problems, Peskov said: ‘He is well – this is no more than just another canard.’
The spokesman said: ‘These [kinds of stories] belong to the category of fake news, discussed with enviable tenacity by a number of media outlets.
‘This brings nothing but a smile [in the Kremlin].’
It is the second time this year Peskov has been forced to issue a denial about a swirl of reports on the use of doppelgängers, often seen as linked to supposedly serious Putin health problems.
Peskov stressed the president – who has plunged Russia and Ukraine into a debilitating war – was fit and well.
The rumours amounted to an ‘absurd hoax’, he said.
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Peskov called the alleged cardiac arrest ‘fake news’ (Picture: Reuters)
Putin has always sought to portray an action man image with a love of martial arts sports.
The rumours of ill health come from several sources.
Most recently, General SVR Telegram channel, which regularly alleges Vladimir Putin is terminally ill with cancer, alleged he suffered ‘cardiac arrest’ on Sunday evening.
The channel said all recent appearances by the Russian dictator, including foreign visits, have been by a body double or doubles.
It claimed that doctors resuscitated Putin and he was taken to a special intensive care facility at his official residence.
‘Doctors performed resuscitation, having previously determined that the president was in cardiac arrest,’ reported the channel.
‘Help was provided on time, the heart was started and Putin regained consciousness.’
The channel is supposedly run by a former Kremlin lieutenant-general, known by the alias Viktor Mikhailovich.
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It claims Putin’s top apparatchiks and security henchmen control the activities of the doppelgängers.
Russian political analyst Dr Valery Solovey said last week: ‘The fact is that the current President Vladimir Putin is living out the last days of his earthly life.’
Solovey is former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations [MGIMO], a training academy for spies and diplomats.
He has promised more claims about Putin’s health on Thursday.
The head of Ukrainian military intelligence Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov has alleged the real Putin has not been seen since June 2022.
‘The one, who everyone used to know, was last seen around 26 June 2022,’ he said last month.
A recent Japanese TV report used AI to analyse Putin’s face, walk and voice in multiple appearances, and concluded that he does use one and perhaps two body doubles.
Putin also allegedly uses body doubles due to his ‘ill health'(Picture: EPA)
Putin has made trips to Kyrgyzstan and China, and was unusually active in travelling inside Russia.
Last week he visited Perm, and held talks with his war commander General Valery Gerasimov in Rostov-on-Don after making a ‘detour’ to visit the military headquarters.
The channel says all these are by body doubles who underwent plastic surgery and years of training by Russian secret services to perform as Putin stand-ins.
This week he has been hold meetings with officials in Moscow.
Today he was shown meeting deputy premier Denis Manturov, who is also trade and industry minister.
In April, Peskov admitted that reports were rife about Putin’s doppelgängers but claimed the warmonger was ‘mega-active’.
‘Perhaps you had heard that Putin has multiple doubles, who work instead of him while he is sitting inside a bunker,’ he said.
‘This is yet more lies. He is just as he used to be – mega-active.’
Putin has admitted that his aides previously asked him if he wanted to use body doubles, which was routine for former Kremlin leaders Stalin and Brezhnev.
Putin said he rejected the scheme.
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‘He is well – this is no more than just another canard.’