Kremlin Addresses Rumor that Putin Was Replaced by Body Double

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that strongman Vladimir Putin remains in good health, laughing at rumors he was recently crippled by a stroke and replaced with a body double.

“Everything is fine with him; this is absolutely another fake,” Peskov said when asked about the cardiac rumor at a press conference.

“This belongs to the category of absurd information hoaxes that a whole series of media discuss with enviable tenacity. This evokes nothing but a smile,” he insisted.

Rumors that Putin, 71, uses body doubles to conceal bouts of poor health have been floating through Russian social media for years. The current scuttlebutt comes from a channel on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram. The post, ostensibly written by a “Kremlin insider,” claimed Putin was found incapacitated in his bedroom on Sunday evening after suffering a “cardiac arrest.”

“Security officers of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who were on duty at the residence, heard noise and sounds of falling coming from the president’s bedroom,” the post claimed.

“Two security officers immediately followed into the president’s bedroom and saw Putin lying on the floor next to the bed and an overturned table with food and drinks. Putin convulsively arched while lying on the floor, rolling his eyes,” it said.

According to the Telegram post, Putin was whisked off to a “special medical facility built in the apartment,” where he “underwent intensive care.”

The Telegram channel in question is called “General SVR,” and its proprietor claims to be a former lieutenant general in the Russian military, frequently posting under the alias “Viktor Mikhailovich.” Posts on General SVR are supposedly sourced to a vast network of contacts within the Kremlin. The channel offers no proof of its claims, and no independent verification of who runs the account or the veracity of its content appears to exist.

Previous General SVR posts have claimed Putin was about to hand over power so he could undergo cancer surgery, he required medical attention for severe “coughing fits” and “chest pains” before a major speech, and most infamously that he soiled himself after tripping and falling down a flight of stairs.

Among various other maladies, the Telegram channel has claimed Putin suffers from severe headaches, blurry vision, fluid in his abdomen, cancer, cardiac issues, and a “numb tongue.”

In early October, General SVR claimed Putin was so ill that he sent a body double on his much-hyped trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping. It was Putin’s first journey outside the borders of the old Soviet Union since he invaded Ukraine in February 2021. The double was supposedly spotted because he had imperfect cheekbones, but the Chinese were presumably persuaded to play along with the ruse.

A similar claim was made at the same time by a Russian political analyst and conspiracy theorist named Valery Solovey, fueling speculation that General SVR is simply Solovey posting under a pseudonym.

All above claims remain unverified at press time.