Ukraine doubles down on claims Putin has ‘at least three’ doppelgängers

Ukrainian military intelligence has doubled down on claims that Russian president Vladimir Putin has ‘at least three three doppelgängers’.

Earlier this week it was alleged that Putin’s new year address was a deepfake, made with AI, which has resurfaced long-term rumours that Russia’s leader has body doubles.

And it’s raised questions about whether the real Putin is actually in full control of the Kremlin during the war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Yusov claimed the body doubles are kept under strict guard and ‘constant surveillance’ by the Russian secret services, with no independent lives of their own.

Mr Yusov said: ‘This information [on Vladimir Putin using body doubles] is confirmed by many sources.

‘It is no longer some kind of news or something that needs to be proven in the world.

There have been claims that Putin’s new year’s address was a deepfake (Picture: East2West)

Accusations of Putin having body doubles have circulated for years, including on social media (Picture: East2West)

‘The technology of doubles has been used before and is being used now, in particular by Vladimir Putin or his entourage, people who influence the situation in the Kremlin.’

Some claim Putin uses body doubles because he is either seriously ill or paranoid about his security or illness, hiding out in a bunker.

Political analyst Professor Valery Solovey – who insists doubles are used because the real Putin died in October 2023 – compared the new year’s address with footage from the same event at the start of 2022.

‌’You can easily see and, most importantly, hear two COMPLETELY different people,’ he said, claiming Putin’s face was too bloated in 2022 compared to 2024.

Now Ukraine is doubling down on the claims(Picture: East2West)

Mr Yusov’s boss, Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian military intelligence, claimed last year that the real Putin hasn’t been seen since 2022.

He said Ukraine knows about ‘at least three’ doppelgängers, telling a Ukrainian news programme: ‘They live under constant surveillance. These are people who certainly do not belong to themselves.

‘They are not some subjects who…under certain circumstances, can be used to implement various scenarios that different [power-brokers in the] Kremlin are considering for themselves.

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‘So it is clear that their fate is, let’s say, not enviable. [They undergo] constant training, including surgery in order to conform to some common [appearance]. And, of course, constant total control.

‘They are not kept in one place. It is clear that the information on them is extremely closed and has not yet been fully established.’

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