Putin’s alleged body double and nuclear deception dismissed by the Kremlin

The Kremlin has rejected what it said were lies that President Vladimir Putin had doubles whose bodies looked similar to him who stood up for the 70-year-old leader and that he spent most of his time sheltered in a nuclear bunker.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov included what he said were slanders about Russia in a speech that touched on the country’s history since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the causes of the Ukraine war and the alleged betrayal of Western society.

“You may have heard that he (Putin) has many doubles working for him while he’s sitting in a basement,” Peskov said at a conference in Moscow, before laughing.

“You see for yourselves what our boss is like: he has always been, and now is, wildly energetic—those who work beside him can hardly keep up,” he said.

“His energy can only be envied. His health can only be wished for, God willing. Of course he does not sit in any bunkers. This is also a lie,” Peskov added.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied speculation that Putin, Russia’s supreme leader since 1999, is ill.

During an official visit to Moscow last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin he was convinced voters would support the Russian leader again in presidential elections scheduled for 2024. Putin has yet to say whether he will seek another term.

When he first came to power, Putin vowed to end the chaos that gripped post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s, but the invasion of Ukraine is the most serious military crisis any Kremlin leader has faced since the 1979-89 Soviet-Afghan war.

The conflict in Ukraine has led to the most serious confrontation with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, while Putin has vowed to turn away from the West and toward China.