Ukraine has cast doubt on the Russian president’s recent visits to Luhansk and Kherson. Russia denies that Putin has a doppelganger, saying those are “rather strange” statements.
Already during the overnight visit to Mariupol a few weeks ago, there was a lot of speculation: did Russian President Vladimir Putin send a double? More recently, Putin’s recent visit to the front was discussed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Thursday on Kiev’s allegations that Putin was using a double. These are “very strange” statements. Specifically, this time it was about Putin’s visit to the front in the occupied areas of Kherson and Luhansk in recent days.
“That was not the real Putin,” Ukraine’s National Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Wednesday. The Putin seen in Kherson was “an ordinary double, of which, as is well known, there are several”. “To be able to talk to the real Putin, you need to be quarantined for at least 10-14 days.” The Putin seen in Kherson was “an ordinary double, of which, as is well known, there are several”.
No evidence that there is a Putin double
However, there is no evidence that there is actually a Putin double in official appointments. Indeed, Putin once said that, for security reasons, he had been advised in the past to use a body double at official engagements. “The idea came up, but I gave up on doubles,” he said.
Also in January, the Kremlin dismissed doubts about Putin’s existence expressed by Kiev. For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the existence of Putin and Russia as a whole is a psychological problem, Peskov said at the time. The sooner Kiev realizes that both Russia and Putin will remain in the future, the better for Ukraine.
Prevent Ukraine from joining NATO
After the arrival of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Ukraine, Russia reaffirmed its war objective of preventing the neighboring country from joining the military alliance. According to the Interfax news agency, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said on Thursday that Russia is threatened by Ukraine’s potential membership of NATO. “Because otherwise it poses a serious and significant threat to our country, to its security,” Peskov said.
At the beginning of the war, almost 14 months ago, on February 24, 2022, Russia also declared that it wanted to demilitarize Ukraine. The West is supplying the country with weapons and ammunition for its defense against the Russian invasion. Russia has accused NATO countries of becoming increasingly involved in the war. The Russian leadership has long portrayed the war as a global conflict with the West as a whole – and is trying to recruit men for front-line deployments.
(APA)