Ukraine intelligence chief claims Putin is using a body double, points to ears as evidence 

Ukraine’s military intelligence chief claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using body doubles for public outings. He claims he can tell by looking at their ears. 

Major General Kyrylo Budanov suggested on Ukrainian television this week that a closer look at Putin’s recent public appearances shows that the president’s ears keep changing. 

“The picture, let’s say, of the ears, is different. And it’s like a fingerprint, each person’s ear picture is unique. It cannot be repeated,” he said quoted by Newsweek. 

Budanov further claims that there are other things apart from the ears that keep changing, including his mannerisms and height. 

“They [Putin’s body doubles] have different habits, different mannerisms, different gaits, sometimes even different heights, if you look closely,” he said.

Budanov is not the first person to suggest that the Russian president uses body doubles. In 2018, the International Business Times listed the rumor as one of the “more unusual conspiracy theories” after a Twitter user shared three photographs of Putin claiming that Putin was being portrayed by three different people. 

The intelligence chief explained that Putin might be using body doubles because he is gravely ill. Back in April, the New York Post reported that Putin, 69, had had 35 secret meetings with a cancer doctor. Others, citing the president’s often disappearances from public life, claim that he is being treated for chronic ailments. 

While many have speculated that the Russian president is using body doubles to hide his illness, it has not yet been officially confirmed.