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The Kremlin has slammed ‘lies’ that Vladimir Putin, 71, had ‘died at his luxurious Valdia forest palace’ amid claims a ‘coup’ was underway in Moscow.
This comes after a Telegram channel, which has claimed for months the Russian chief had most cancers and was terminally in poor health, introduced that Putin had died.
It additional claimed {that a} ‘coup’ was underway in Russia as Putin’s internal circle can be attempting to go off his ‘physique double’ as the true president.
However Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed state media RIA Novosti that the report was an ‘absurd info canard’.
Earlier this week he had strongly denied Putin suffered a coronary heart assault final weekend and mentioned reviews the Russian president used a doppelganger have been false.
The total Telegram put up learn: ‘Consideration! There may be at present an tried coup in Russia!
‘Russian President Vladimir Putin died this night at his residence in Valdai.
‘At 20.42 Moscow time, docs stopped resuscitation and pronounced demise.
‘Now the docs are blocked within the room with Putin’s corpse, they’re being held by members of the presidential safety service on the private orders of Dmitry Kochnev [director of the Federal Guard Service], who’s in contact and receives directions from the Secretary of the Safety Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev.
‘Safety for the president’s double has been beefed up.
‘Lively negotiations are underway.
‘Any try and go off a double because the president after Putin’s demise is a coup.’
Nikolai Patrushev, 72, is secretary of Russia’s highly effective Safety Council, and Putin’s high intelligence advisor.
The Telegram channel has claimed he’s in pole place to succeed the president however may need energy for his son, agriculture minister Dmitry Patrushev, 46.
The channel has claimed for months that Putin was in poor health and changed by actors educated by the safety providers who underwent cosmetic surgery to appear like the Russian chief.
The identical idea has been espoused by Valery Solovey, a former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of Worldwide Relations, a coaching academy for spies and diplomats.
He mentioned lately: ‘The very fact is that the present President Vladimir Putin resides out the final days of his earthly life.’
The top of Ukrainian army intelligence Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov has alleged the true Putin has not been seen since June 2022.
‘The one, who everybody used to know, was final seen round 26 June 2022,’ he mentioned final month.
A current Japanese TV report used AI to analyse Putin’s face, stroll and voice in a number of appearances and concluded that he does use one and maybe two physique doubles.
‘I can inform you there aren’t any doubles on the subject of work and so forth,’ mentioned spokesman Peskov earlier this week.
Particularly on the center issues, Peskov mentioned: ‘He’s effectively – that is not more than simply one other canard.’
The spokesman mentioned: ‘These [kinds of stories] belong to the class of faux information, mentioned with enviable tenacity by various media retailers.
‘This brings nothing however a smile [in the Kremlin].’
In April, Peskov admitted that reviews have been rife about Putin’s doppelgangers however claimed the warmonger was ‘mega-active’.
‘Maybe you had heard that Putin has a number of doubles, who work as a substitute of him whereas he’s sitting inside a bunker,’ he mentioned.
‘That is but extra lies. That is yet one more lie. You see our president. He’s simply as he was once – mega-active.’
The channel is supposedly run by a former Kremlin lieutenant-general, identified by the alias Viktor Mikhailovich.
It claims Putin’s high apparatchiks and safety henchmen management the actions of the doppelgangers.
It’s dismissed by most political analysts as run by conspiracy theorists.
The declare comes amid reviews that Putin is making ready to announce in just a few days he’ll stand in subsequent 12 months’s presidential election, in search of a brand new six-year time period.
Putin is reported to share his Valdai palace together with his secret companion Alina Kabaeva, an Olympic gold-winning rhythmic gymnast, and their younger household.
