No heart attack, no body doubles: Kremlin denies rumours about Vladimir Putin

London: The Kremlin has denied reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin had suffered a heart attack and laughed off rumours he has used body doubles to cover for him in public appearances.

An unsourced report by Russian Telegram channel SVR General, which has spread conspiracy theories about Putin’s health and public appearances, claimed on Sunday that the Russian leader had been struck by a serious illness.

Russian President Vladimir Putin.Credit: AP

The channel said Putin was “very ill” and unlikely to live until the end of the northern autumn, with all official meetings conducted by a body double.

“Talk of Vladimir Putin’s health problems is another canard,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian state-owned news agency Ria.ru. “Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake.”

Peskov was reported to have laughed in response to a further question about body doubles, and denied that Putin had any.

“This belongs to the category of absurd information hoaxes that a whole series of media discuss with enviable tenacity. This evokes nothing but a smile.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.Credit: AP

The Telegram channel – claiming to cite former members of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service – also claimed on Tuesday that Putin body double held a phone conversation with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva while the “real” Putin was in an “intensive care ward in his residence”.

Putin, a judo enthusiast who has long cultivated an “action man” image, turned 71 earlier this month and has been subjected to major speculation about his health since he ordered an invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

He maintains an intensive schedule of meetings and public appearances, many of them televised. His recent program included a visit to China last week, at a two-day forum in Beijing which marked the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting at the Kremlin on Tuesday.Credit: Kremlin/AP

On the sidelines of the meeting, Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban were photographed shaking hands, in a picture that sparked international criticism.

In May last year, Putin appeared to have a bloated face and limp on the Russian Victory Day parade, in Red Square, Moscow. He has since been seen shaking and gripping tables and chairs for support.

At the time, an unnamed Russian oligarch, who claimed to have close ties to the president, told a US magazine Putin was “very ill with blood cancer”.

US intelligence officials later moved to dispel speculation he was in declining health from cancer or Parkinson’s disease, describing him as “too healthy”.

William Burns, director of the CIA, said at the time there was no intelligence to suggest Putin was sick, despite him appearing unsteady in numerous public appearances since the war began.

“There are lots of rumours about President Putin’s health and as far as we can tell he’s entirely too healthy,” Burns told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

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