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Over the past few months, a Russian political scientist named Valery Solovei has stoked a global frenzy with a sensational claim: that Vladmir Putin died last year and today is represented in public by a body double. The Kremlin’s elite, Solovei tells his half-million online followers, controls the double and has stuffed Putin’s body in a freezer. Then on Thursday, journalist Tucker Carlson aired a two-hour interview with Putin. Solovei shrugged it off as a sham. Carlson, he said, interviewed Putin’s doppelgänger, who will now be passed off as real to millions of viewers in the West. “Putin is dead,...

Vladimir Putin has complained that his old friends often no longer recognise him amid rumours he regularly uses body doubles. The Russian dictator, 71, told an audience in the country's remote Chukotka region that school and university classmates do not believe it's really him. 'When I [very occasionally] meet my classmates or fellow university students, they often look at me and say - "I don't believe it, is it actually you, or not you?",' he said. -snip- Solovey - who once taught future Russian spies and diplomats - was challenged by a top Ukrainian TV interviewer Dmitry Gordon over his...

Rumours of Vladimir Putin's 'ill health' have been swirling for years, with recent sources claiming the Russian President has died and his corpse is being stored in a freezer 'used for deep-frozen food'. Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding his first major news conference today, since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. At the annual event (which didn't happen last year), he has claimed that peace with Ukraine will only occur "when we achieve our objectives". -snip- Speculation has mounted online for years about the Russian President's 'ill health', with claims he is allegedly suffering from...

An Olympic gold medalist long rumoured to be Vladimir Putin’s mistress hasn’t been seen for weeks. Alina Kabaeva, 40, hasn’t made a public appearance since October 22 during a visit to her elite gymnastics school in Sochi, a Russian city on the Black Sea. Just days later a sketchy Telegram blog said the Russian president had died of a cardiac arrest, a claim the Kremlin furiously denied as ‘fake news’ at best. Only a week before, the General SVR account alleged that if the leader were to die, a body double would likely rule in his stead. Kabaeva was last...

Vladimir Putin’s alleged secret gymnast partner has not been seen in public since rumours emerged of the Kremlin leader’s death. -snip- Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva, a woman who is claimed to be the mother of two or three of Putin’s children, and his secret lover, also hasn’t been seen since late October. This is said to be around the date Putin supposedly suffered a heart attack and she has not re-emerged since. Earlier in October she was highly visible in footage from her Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy in Sochi - an elite training base for future sports...

Intriguing rumors have recently surfaced regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin's health and whereabouts, coupled with startling claims about his luxurious woodland palace, Valdai, situated in central Russia. According to sources including Radar Online and the General SVR Telegram channel, there are allegations that Putin, 71, may have passed away on October 25, with his body purportedly being stored in a freezer at this opulent residence. These claims, which have been denied by the Kremlin, suggest that a body double of Putin might be acting on his behalf. The General SVR Telegram channel, believed to be operated by a Kremlin insider,...

Rumours are circulating that Vladimir Putin has died, and that his corpse is being stored in a freezer in his luxurious woodland palace. The General SVR Telegram Channel, supposedly led by a Kremlin insider, claimed the Russian President had succumbed to a number of health issues last month. A heart attack was said to have been the final blow, with a body double now filling in for the despot. The channel continues to state that Putin is dead despite the Kremlin refuting the claims. A Telegram post earlier this week said the body was "in the freezer at his residence...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that no decision has been made regarding the possible candidacy of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the presidential elections next year. -snip- “It is quite clear that this topic is now increasingly attracting the attention of political experts, but so far no decision has been made in this regard. It is understandable that the time of announcing the election is approaching, but for now there are no decisions in this regard. You will be informed as soon as they are,” said Peskov. Presidential elections in Russia should be held in March next year.

Nikolai Patrushev gives speech about Putin in past tense Vladimir Putin's rumoured death has taken a stunning new twist after his top security aide and the man tipped to succeed Russia's president referred to him entirely in the past tense during a bizarre speech. Speculation has swirled around Putin after General SVR, a Telegram channel thought to be left by a Kremlin insider, claimed he died from a heart attack and that body doubles had been put in his place. The Kremlin has furiously denied the rumours. B‌ut Nikolai Patrushev – a former head of the FSB security service who...

The Kremlin, asked about President Vladimir Putin's political ambitions, said on Tuesday that the campaign for next year's presidential election in Russia had not yet begun and that there could be a varying number of candidates in the contest. -snip- When asked when the 71-year-old Russian leader would officially announce his candidacy for next year's presidential race, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "There is no first candidate yet, there will be a first candidate after they are registered. There may be a varying number of candidates. "Our constitution stipulates who can stand for the post of president. Many people fulfil...

Telegram channel General SVR claims that president Vladimir Putin died on Thursday - the channel has alleged that his body has since been stored in a deep freezer. The body of Vladimir Putin has allegedly been stored in a freezer following rumours of his death, according to a Telegram channel. Telegram doubled down on its claims that the Russian president has died on Thursday night at around 8:42pm in Moscow time. The channel alleged that his body had been placed in a freezer used for deep-frozen food. General SVR has reported that medics who were caring for Putin have been...

The Kremlin has dismissed fresh speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ill and called rumours that he uses a body double an "absurd hoax". The comments from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov came after the General SVR Telegram channel, which regularly alleges Mr Putin is terminally ill with cancer, claimed he suffered "cardiac arrest" on Sunday evening. "Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake [story]," Mr Peskov said when asked about the reports during his regular media briefing on Tuesday morning. He then called claims that the Russian leader has a body double an "absurd hoax".

Video Link with translatorTranscriptWe have used the Valdai Club platform to discuss, more than once, the major and serious shifts that have already taken place and are taking place around the world, the risks posed by the degradation of global institutions, the erosion of collective security principles and the substitution of “rules” for international law. I was tempted to say “we are clear about who came up with these rules,” but, perhaps, that would not be an accurate statement. We have no idea whatsoever who made these rules up, what these rules are based on, or what is contained inside...