According to Russian state media, four days after the armed uprising of Wagner’s mercenaries ended, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin left Moscow for the first time and traveled to the Russian Caucasus republic in Dagestan. State television footage showed Putin bathing in a crowd in the Caspian Sea town of Derbent, which he found unusual. This again led to speculation as to whether he might have been a double.
A video released by the state news agency Ria Novosti on Telegram shows Putin being surrounded by enthusiastic residents of Derbent and shaking hands in the darkness on Wednesday night. Then a girl asks the head of state several times in the crowd for a selfie. A recording by state television reporter Pavel Sarubin shows Putin kissing the girl on the head, putting his arm around her and then posing for a photo with her.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin traveled to the republic of Dagestan to take care of tourism issues there. Dagestan is a popular holiday destination for many Russians. Putin’s trip to the republic loyal to the Kremlin in the wake of the aborted uprising by Wagner troupe boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was apparently intended to demonstrate normality.
The head of the republic of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, said at a meeting with Putin, according to the state news agency TASS on the uprising, that all residents of Dagestan support the decisions “of the president and the commander-in-chief”. Putin responded that he had “no doubts” about the reactions in Dagestan and across the country.
It is unusual for the head of the Kremlin to walk in a crowd – in Moscow, Putin often keeps his distance, even at political meetings. According to the “Dossier Center” research platform founded by the Russian opposition figure, since the beginning of the war Putin has only traveled by armored train instead of by plane for fear of an attack.
Secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, stated in April: “To be able to talk with the real Putin, you need to be quarantined for at least 10-14 days.” It was already clear to Danilov during Putin’s alleged visit to the partly Russian-occupied Kherson region in April that a double was being sent there. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately denied the allegations and called them “lies”.
Putin has always denied such rumours. After taking office in 2000, he was recommended to wear a double for official appointments. “The idea came up, but I didn’t use doubles,” the Russian president told state news agency TASS in February 2020.