Vladimir Putin’s appearance with a sniper’s rifle at a training base for mobilised soldiers was not him but a body double, it has been bizarrely claimed.
It appeared to be a rare recent visit by the Kremlin commander in chief to meet men he is sending to war.
The Russian ruler who became reclusive during the height of Covid times seemed unusually tactile at the Western Military District’s training ground in Ryazan region.
He gripped a mobilised soldier’s arm, and thrust out his hand for a handshake, waiting while the unmasked conscripted man slowly removed his glove.
The friendly body language was unusual recently for Putin, and reports have said that those meeting him are generally expected to undergo two weeks' quarantine beforehand.
Yet Putin’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu was present, and the presidential bagmen looked the part, one carrying what might have been the ‘nuclear football’ - with codes for a Russian nuclear strike - and another familiar functionary with a possible medical kit.
And today Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Pesnkov insisted the president had “hit the gong” when he fired with a Russian SVD sniper rifle.
He did not shoot at a traditional circular bullseye but instead hit the intended target from 300 metres.
“There was a gong [which he] hit, and the gong was heard,” he said, adding that Putin frequently tests out new types of Russian guns which are brought to him for inspection.
“He prefers to personally test new models, they have been provided for him multiple times,” he said.
But Telegram channel General SVR has disputed the authenticity of the visit, linking it to health concerns over the president.
It stated: “Putin DID NOT visit the military training ground of the Western Military District in the Ryazan region, and DID NOT check the progress of the training of mobilised military personnel, as reported by numerous information resources, citing official information from the Kremlin.”
The channel - which claims insider knowledge from the Kremlin - stated: “A man who looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who participated in the filming at the training ground, is the president's double.”
And it claimed Putin was not happy with the “understudy’s” behaviour which was “too fussy”.
Aides persuaded him to allow the footage to be seen because it looked “soulful” and “humane”.
The extraordinary claim of a “doppelgänger” went on: “The double was guarded in the same way as [Putin].
“The understudy was wearing a concealed bulletproof vest, all security measures were observed, including a minimum of contact with outsiders, the absence of military weapons for all the uninitiated, and the disposal of biological waste, [as happens with] Putin.
“They try to avoid incidents with an understudy as much as possible, even the possibility for a double to fire a few shots from a sniper rifle was the subject of difficult discussions and almost a separate mini-special operation.”
It claimed one of two Putin doubles deployed by the Kremlin was used in Ryazan.
The channel has long claimed - without offering hard proof - that Putin has significant health problems including cancer.
“The main double - there are two in total - is almost identical to the original, but has several undeniable advantages,” said General SVR today.
“The understudy does not have cancer, Parkinson's disease and does not suffer from schizoaffective disorder.
“And, apparently, after Putin's death, it can be used for some time.”
In Ryazan region, Putin was apparently shown asking a mobilised man: “How long have you been here?”
He was told since 7 October.
Putin asked: “Do you feel confident…are your skills returning?”
A conscript called Ruslan replied: “Yes, sir.”
Putin two years ago admitted that his officials had once considered using doubles, but he claimed he vetoed the plan.
"I discarded the idea of any doubles,” he said.
He was advised in the early 2000s when Russia was hit by terrorist attacks that a lookalike should take his place at events where the head of state might be at risk, he said.
“This was during the toughest time of our war against terrorism,” he said.
Body doubles were reportedly used by former Kremlin leaders, for example longtime Soviet supremos Josef Stalin and Leonid Brezhnev.
A sick video from pro-war and anti-Ukrainian Telegram channel Terrikon, and shared by Bloknot Russia among others, fantasises on Putin using his sniper's rifle to kill Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
A caption read: “This is just a fantasy about to our president’s precise shooting.”
The mocked-up video based on Putin’s sniper shoot on Thursday shows Zelensky in the sights and then a fatal shot to his head.
At the start of the war, it was claimed Putin had sent hit squads to seek to eliminate Zelensky.
