Is Putin using a body double?

Ever since his invasion of Ukraine in February, the world’s media has been awash with rumours that Vladimir Putin is seriously – perhaps terminally – ill. There has been constant speculation that the Russian President has cancer, or Parkinson’s Disease, or both.

Now Ukraine’s Head of Military Intelligence, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, has thrown another rumour into the swirling mix – claiming on TV that Putin regularly uses one or more body doubles, and may even have been impersonated by one of them at his recent summit meeting in Tehran with Turkey’s President Erdogan. As proof of his theory, Budanov cited the shape of Putin’s ears which he claimed has changed over the years, along with his height.

Ukraine has an obvious interest in spreading stories that the Russian dictator, whose troops have ravished their country, is dead, dying, or unaccountably absent from the scene. The CIA’s William Burns has said there is no evidence to suggest Putin is ill

But before we dismiss Budanov’s claims out of hand as wishful thinking or propaganda it is worth considering the history of body doubles of leaders, who have in fact been frequently employed – and not just in Russia.