Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to send a body double to host a military parade Tuesday on Red Square due to a “paranoid fear for his life,” a Ukrainian official said.
According to Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko, “Putin will not dare to appear at the parade on May 9, but will send a double.”
Because of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Putin is rumored to be increasingly fearful of assassination. There have been many rumors of Putin using body doubles as well.
Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ukraine interior ministry and former deputy minister, stated that a strike on the Kremlin earlier this month heightened Putin’s fears, adding that “real fears for his life will force Putin to sit in a bunker, sending another double.”
However, the doubles show subtle differences to Putin due to “inconsistencies in appearance,” Gerashchenko noted.
According to the Daily Mail, former Kremlin leaders, such as Josef Stalin and Leonid Brezhnev, used body doubles as well.
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