Fearsome or Total 'Farce'? Report Claims Ailing Putin Sent Body Double to Beijing Summit

A recent anonymous post on Telegram alleges that Russian President Vladimir Putin is experiencing a serious health crisis.

The post claims that the Russian president is so ill that he could barely sustain a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - and even more bizarrely - the claim asserts it was a body double that put on a show at China’s Belt Road Forum, Knewz.com reported.

"Putin had to communicate personally with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite feeling very bad, the Russian President held this conversation, even with some enthusiasm, and after the negotiations, he went on vacation again," the anonymous Telegram subscriber noted.

While he was allegedly able to muster the strength to converse with Netanyahu, a double had to fill in with other duties.

"The double, on behalf of Putin, held telephone conversations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah Khalil Al-Sisi, naturally, under the control of curators, but, in principle, he could have handled it himself."

If the post is anything to go by, Putin's condition is no small issue because doctors are not far off, just waiting for the autocrat to crash.

"Doctors are now on duty not just in the president's residence but in the next room to him, with the necessary medicines and equipment to provide emergency care and resuscitation," the post asserts.

The poster shows definite anti-Putin sentiments: "The Russian leadership is gradually turning the process of governing the country into a circus. A man resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on operational issues for people who are well aware that they are taking part in a farce and for the director of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops, Viktor Zolotov."

Perhaps the most bizarre claim in this post was that it was a body double that attended the Beijing Belt Road Forum.

By extension, this would then mean that the Putin double was able to fool Chinese President Xi Jinping and the world as they watched who they thought was Putin with his entourage and his nuclear suitcase.

And the world was watching. Especially since it was only his second trip out of the country after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

The autocrat has long been rumored ill.

In June 2022, Knewz.com reported a Ukrainian intelligence official alleging that the autocrat had a grave illness.

Major General Kyrylo Budanov, of the country’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, claimed that Putin only had two years to live and that cancer was eating away at him.

In September 2023, additional claims surfaced and they too asserted that Putin’s demise was imminent.

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Valery Solovey, the political scientist who made these claims, also made references to Putin’s body doubles.

He said, "As soon as Putin dies, we will know about it in a few hours. This will be reported, we will find out about this – because there are too many interested parties, both outside Russia and in Russia itself, for this information to become public knowledge. This will happen before the end of autumn."