Is Vladimir Putin dead? What’s behind the latest internet conspiracy theory?
Last week a sensational claim was made in a Russian Telegram post; Vladimir Putin had died and that a puppet doppelganger had taken his place.
While Vladimir Putin does make public appearances, there is much mystery around the Russian president as with all autocrats. That makes fertile ground for speculation and rumors such as those about Putin having health problems or his use of body doubles.
These rumors have been circulating for some time now but haven’t been seen as credible by intelligence agencies and laughed off by the Kremlin. However, last week, a new sensational rumor was started by a mysterious Russian Telegram channel; Vladimir Putin had died and a doppelganger had taken his place with a possible coup under way.
Is Vladimir Putin dead? What’s behind the latest internet conspiracy theory?
The ball got rolling with a Telegram post on 26 October from a user with the call tag ‘General SVR’, who shares intriguing information about Putin and his inner circle but that cannot be substantiated.
“Attention! At the moment, there is an attempt at a coup in Russia! Russian President Vladimir Putin died tonight in a residence in Valdai. At 20.42 Moscow time, doctors stopped resuscitation and stated death,” the post began. A coup attempt would be under way if those pulling the puppet strings tried to pass off his double, who had already taken over duties of the stricken Russian president, as the real deal now that the modern-day czar was dead.
Three days earlier the mystery informant claimed that Putin had suffered a heart attack Sunday evening.
As well, the news of Putin’s deteriorating health and death was parroted by a prominent Russian political analyst Valery Solovey. But it should be noted that some believe the two to be the same person.
The news was rubbished by analysts and intelligence officials. And as would be expected Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied both the rumors of his boss’ passing and that there was a doppelganger at any time.
Are rumors of Putin’s death Kremlin’s way of gauging Russians’ reactions?
The Ukrainian military intelligence has dismissed the information as “fake news” saying that it is a tactic by the Kremlin to monitor internal reactions as reported by Business Insider.
“The basic purpose of fake news is to look at how society reacts in terms of numbers and dynamics and to look at the reactions of individuals, the elite, and the media,” Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, or HUR, told NV Radio. “It’s an internal story that is intended for an internal Russian audience.”
Alexander J. Motyl, a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark and a specialist on Ukraine, in an op-ed thinks that the sources of the rumors, if not the same person, could be one of two things, barring crackpots or puppets.
They could be potential opposition leaders trying to sow confusion. The other possibility is that they are “agents of the security services or spokesmen for the powerful elites” with the latter positioned to protect them from reprisals. Despite Solovey’s harsh criticism of Putin he has yet to be arrested even though he lives in Moscow.
If the rumors are being spread by the elites, Motyl says that would signify that “the post-Putin power struggle has already broken out, even if the real Putin is still alive.”