Putin’s double? Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrived this week for a surprise visit to Sevastopol and the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and toured the occupied city in the Donbas region. In the meantime, today (Tuesday) Ukrainian media wondered whether the Russian president was afraid to come, and actually sent a “double”, referring to the strange shape of Putin’s chin.
A Ukrainian official who goes by that name Anton Gershchenko, published three photos of Putin’s chin, asking whether “Putin sends a double because he is afraid of public visits? I wonder which of the photos is the real Russian president.” One of the photos shown is the photo of Putin in a speech he gave to the Russian people about a month ago, another photo from the visit to Sevastopol and Mariupol.
According to Gershchenko’s claim, in the first photo Putin’s chin looks “tight” and in the second and third photos from his visit to Ukraine, it looks much looser. At the same time, a Russian source scoffed at the claim that was circulated in the media in Ukraine, saying that “Putin has his moments when he looks like Babushka without teeth.”
Meanwhile, the Telegram channel General SVR, which follows the war in Ukraine, believed that Putin did not visit Sevastopol and Mariupol at all. According to the channel, “the information from the Kremlin, according to which Putin visited Ukraine, is not true. A doppelgänger of the Russian president visited the Crimean Peninsula for a short visit for the purpose of filming a video.” They also claimed that Putin’s double was “forbidden to hold long conversations and meetings for fear of embarrassment.”