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Vladimir Putin was caught off guard today during his marathon end of year press conference when he looked up to the big screen expecting to see a Russian citizen phoning in - and instead came face to face with an AI deepfake of himself. A student from Saint Petersburg State University had constructed the visual and audio likeness of the Russian President, and took the opportunity to ask the real Putin to share his thoughts on the dangers of AI and if he uses body doubles. 'Vladimir Vladimirovich, hello... I would like to ask you, is it true that you...

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...

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...

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...

-snip- The changes Putin greenlighted limit coverage of Central Election Commission sessions to registered media outlets, which could exclude freelancers or independent journalists, according to the reports on Tuesday. The amendments prohibit media from reporting on the commission’s actions at military bases or in areas under martial law without advance clearance from regional and military authorities. They also bar the publication of any campaign content on “blocked sources”, referring to restricted websites and social media services. Under an intensifying crackdown on the opposition and the flow of information, Russia has banned an array of websites and services, including Facebook and...

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.