Kremlin cracks down on Russians 'posting emojis' about rumours of Putin's death

05 November 2023 , 20:25

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Russians have been warned not to "celebrate" rumours Putin has died (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Kremlin is reportedly keeping a close eye on Russians posting emojis in response to wild rumours about President Vladimir Putin's supposed demise.

Over the past fortnight, the General SVR Telegram channel has been awash with claims Putin suffered a fatal heart attack and his body was stashed in a massive food freezer. There were even whispers of a secret memorial service and talk of a Putin lookalike stepping into his shoes. Ukraine's military intelligence spokesperson, Andriy Yusov, told Ukrainska Pravda news: "The situation is interesting as there are a lot of requests (searches) in the network (on the Internet), including in Russia itself there is a multiple increase in searches for Putin's death and so on.

"On the one hand, I would like to say do not read Soviet newspapers at dinner. Well, if there are no others, then don't read any, but this applies to Russians. To understand this is a Russian story, a Russian company and, of course, the special services filmed (Russian police gathered evidence of)...those who put emoticons under the posts about Putin's death, and they are quite likely to come soon to the official representatives of the Russian authorities."

The Kremlin has always denied rumours Putin is unwell or dead and using a body double. Despite this, the source on Telegram continues to insist otherwise. When the rumours first started, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed them as an "absurd information canard", the Daily Star reports. He said: "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."

Peskov issued another denial days later, and a third one came yesterday. He was at the opening of a new Russia exhibition at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy also known as the VDNKh which Putin was supposed to attend, but his appearance was cancelled earlier this week. Peskov, the only Kremlin official trying to squash the wild rumours, said: "We have only one Putin. Now the 'experts' are guessing there are three or four of them and who we now see every day."

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Adam Cailler