18 October 2023 , 16:09
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Vladimir Putin sent a body double to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping because the real president was too ill to make the trip, according to a Russian political analyst.
Valery Solovey’s extraordinary claims argue the Kremlin sent the imposter because Putin’s health plummeted so much he wasn’t able to make the high-profile trip to China. He says the Russian President instead entrusted a doppelgänger on the diplomatic visit, flanked by high-ranking officers and nuclear briefcases.
Solovey said: “The fact is that the current President Vladimir Putin is living out the last days of his earthly life. Not months, and not weeks, but precisely the last days (due to terminal illness). He is currently, like in previous months, being successfully replaced by his double. The double even goes to Beijing. And the Chinese side knows very well who they are dealing with.”
Valery Solovey reckons Vladimir Putin doesn't have long left to live (Valery Solovey/ east2west news)Top Chinese officials played along with the audacious scheme in order to help the existing security elite around Putin secure the succession, the political scientist claimed. Telegram channel General SVR added that the small elite in charge of Putin’s double found the meeting with Xi ‘exciting’ as they do not want to lose power when the real Putin dies.
But the channel pointed out ‘important differences’ that led to the body double being spotted ‘despite the careful preparation of the understudy’. It explained: “The fault is again with the double’s ‘floating’ cheekbones, which do not stay in place and move in different directions.
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Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were pictured together in China, but Solovey says the Russian leader was actually a double (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)“The double initially had less expressive cheekbones, which, as a result of plastic surgery, were ‘enlarged’ and made similar to Putin’s cheekbones. But it was impossible to make sure they stayed stationary in the right places.”
As well as Solovey, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov has also accused Putin of hiding away and not making real public appearances. He argued the Russian President had not been seen for more than a year and used doppelgängers in his place.
Putin himself has admitted in the past that aides offered him body doubles. But despite former Kremlin leaders Stalin and Brezhnev reportedly accepting the offer, Putin said he rejected the scheme.