Putin ‘body double’ rumours fly after ‘lookalike’ makes crucial telltale error when checking the time

PECULIAR footage of Vladimir Putin appearing to forget which wrist he wears his watch on has sparked new claims he uses a body double.

The President glanced at his left arm and looked perplexed after realising his timepiece was not there.

But the warlord has always infamously worn his watches on his right wrist - leaving many questioning why he would be unsure of its place.

The dictator looked visibly perplexed not to find the watch there. 

The awkward display took place during a meeting of the Russian Council for Strategic Development and National Projects.

Later in the meeting, the Kremlin leader is seen taking off his watch - believed to be a £12,500 Russian-made Raketa - and fidgeting with it in his hands. 

Perhaps Putin, 70, is preoccupied with the war or becoming forgetful.

But Telegram channel General SVR claims that the sickly leader now permanently relies on a doppelgänger for public appearances.

It was claimed that he ropes in lookalike actors to take his place to keep his reportedly weakening health under wraps.

The channel claimed Putin's body double seems to have simply forgotten that the dictator habitually wears his watch on the "wrong wrist".

The post read: "Having read out a voluminous speech…the understudy frankly got bored."

It said the doppelgänger sought to "create the appearance of active work, diligently wielding a pen, writing down some nonsense on his papers" as well as doodling  "squiggles: while "not forgetting to cough and grunt imitating the president". 

"But at about 55 minutes, the understudy had an embarrassment.

"The double completely forgot that Putin wears a watch on his right hand and, out of habit raised his left hand to check the time.

"Not finding a watch there, [he] embarrassedly lowered it."

The Kremlin's own footage of the meeting conveniently edited the blunder out, the channel claimed.

The alleged Putin understudy removed the watch and began to put it on his left wrist before bringing the meeting to a close.

"The real Putin would NEVER try to look at the time on the hand where he does not wear a watch and would not be surprised at the absence of a watch on his left hand, since he always wears them on his right hand," the channel stated.

"And, of course, he would not attempt to remove the watch from the right, and move it to the left.

"The president has been wearing a watch on his right hand for many years.

"And his double has always been worn on his left, and only when portraying the president wears a watch on his right."

General SVR has dubbed the Russian President the "most famous illusionist in the world", adding that "no one has ever had such tricks with doubles."

Political analyst Dr Valery Solovey, a Putin-watching former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations, a training school for spies and diplomats, claimed today that Putin had not been seen in person since a session on August 7 with his former KGB crony Sergei Zhemezov, now CEO of Rostec.

Putin was too ill to fight the presidential election due in Russia in March 2024, he said. 

Solovey said: "He can hardly get out of bed, with difficulty getting dressed.

"He claimed Western leaders were well aware of his ailing health. President Putin simply will not be able to participate in the elections.

"President Putin cannot put his own trousers on without external assistance, let alone participate in elections.

"And if he puts them on without external help, he then needs to rest afterwards.

"He is in such terrible physical shape, it is getting worse. It is getting worse literally day by day."

The expert claimed Putin is now replaced by a double "in all public appearances", which sometimes resulted in "comic errors".

"Western governments know perfectly well that President Putin is replaced by double," Solovey continued.

"It is known by leaders of all more or less large countries across the world but everyone turns a blind eye. Why?

"After all, these are [the] affairs of these strange Russians, let them do their thing, and fool their own people."

Putin refused to fly to South Africa this week for a summit of the BRICS countries. 

He is due soon to be in Turkey, but it appears Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will now visit Russia instead. 

Solovey says the real Putin is too ill to travel abroad while Erdogan has warned him not to send his double to Ankara. 

"Erdogan persistently asked Putin not to send a double for the meeting with him,” he said. 

"And because Putin himself cannot go to Turkey, simply cannot, Erdogan is ready - out of respect to the gravely ill, dying person - to visit Russia."

Last month, the Russian Orthodox patriarch Kirill - a close Putin ally - addressed the dictator wrongly as the "much-esteemed Vladimir Vasilyevich".

He then quickly corrected himself to name him Vladimir Vladimirovich. 

Solovey has claimed Vasilyevich is the patronymic of the doppelgänger.