Kremlin denies 'absurd' claim Putin died and body double being ...
The Kremlin was forced to issue an astonishing denial Friday after a widely shared report claimed President Vladimir Putin had died at home — and that a body double was being used as part of an attempted coup.
The popular Telegram channel “General SVR” — which purports to be run by a former Russian intelligence officer with insider information from the Kremlin — had claimed the warmongering 71-year-old leader died at his forest palace.
“Attention! There is currently an attempted coup in Russia! Russian President Vladimir Putin died this evening at his residence in Valdai,” General SVR wrote, referring to the palace about 250 miles from Moscow.
“At 20.42 Moscow time, doctors stopped resuscitation and pronounced death.”
The anonymous author claimed Putin’s doctors were confined to a room with his “corpse” by members of the presidential security detail on the orders of Dmitry Kochnev, director of the Federal Protective Service of Russia.
Kochnev was said to be receiving instructions directly from the shadowy Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, one of Putin’s closest advisers.
“Security for the president’s double has been stepped up. Active negotiations are underway,” the channel declared.
“Any attempt to pass off a double as the president after Putin’s death is a coup.”
In a follow-up post, the outlet alleged that a decision has been reached to form a coalition made up of members of Putin’s inner circle, headed by Patrushev, “for the purpose of maintaining the current regime” using Putin’s body double as a figurehead.
“General SVR” later reported that Putin’s “corpse” has been unceremoniously placed inside a freezer that was previously used for deep-freeze food storage.
The Kremlin denounced the report while sharing photos of Putin Friday chairing a meeting with the Russian Security Council members via video link in Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the rumors an “absurd information fake.”
Peskov was echoing a previous comment he made earlier this week after the same Telegram channel reported that Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest but was resuscitated by his medics.
“Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake,” he told reporters Tuesday in response to a question about the president’s health.
Peskov also laughed off the body double claims then, saying that “this belongs to the category of absurd information fakes that a whole series of media discuss with enviable tenacity. This evokes nothing but a smile.”
The “General SVR” Telegram channel has repeatedly claimed, without providing any evidence, that Putin has been battling cancer and Parkinson’s disease — but misinformation researchers warned the account isn’t credible.
“Its mocking and dismissive attitude toward the Kremlin also appeals to English-speaking audiences. Yet this channel lacks credibility, having made (most likely) false claims about Putin’s health before,” Scott Radnitz, a professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Washington, told the AP.
With Post wires
