On Tuesday, October 7, Vladimir Putin turned 73. Having been in power for over a quarter of a century, he has become the hero of his own legends – with doubles, harems, a “black suitcase”, and the quest for immortality. Focus magazine presents the most common rumors surrounding the dictator – the same ones that the Kremlin itself has helped to create.
Every system builds a legend around itself. The Kremlin is a whole global saga. It has everything: doubles in bunkers, frozen corpses, harems guarded by the FSO protection and security service, and experiments on achieving immortality. At the center of this intrigue is Vladimir Putin, a man who, after more than twenty-five years in power, has become the symbol of his own myth. And this myth is not an ornament, but a mechanism: it feeds fear, discipline, and belief in the infallibility of the “leader”.
The double, the “black suitcase”, mistresses, armored trains, the quest for immortality – all these are not just rumors, but a mirror of a system built on secrecy. Each myth about Putin reinforces the main one: that he is “unchangeable”, “invulnerable and eternal”. And that as long as this myth exists, so does the power it personifies.
Putin’s Double and Clones
Political scientist Oleksii Golobutski says that, during Putin’s years in power, an entire ecosystem of absurd rumors has developed around him – so diverse that it deserves a separate encyclopedia. He calls one of the most famous – the one about the “doubles” – almost his “inventive” idea from the Ukrainian information space. Golobutski recalls that he started talking about it eight years ago, based on early Russian speculations that had no evidentiary basis. Now he is ironic: this story about doubles is the apex of the idiocy of Kremlin folklore, which Moscow itself feeds.
The media often publishes new photos or videos comparing Putin “from the beginning” with the one “from the late 2000s”, looking for contradictory facial features or movements to fit the hypothesis of stunt doubles. Putin himself stated in 2020 that he was offered to use stunt doubles in the 2000s, but is presumed to have declined.
According to Golobutski, among the craziest versions about Putin’s fate, three are in the foreground.
The first is about death: it is assumed that the leader died a long time ago, and his body is kept in a refrigerator, while substitutes appear in public. This rumor has been circulating for two years, gaining popularity on social networks.
The second is the classic theory of doubles, in which each public appearance is an acting performance. In particular, in an interview given to “Detector.Media”, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirilo Budanov, claimed that Putin has several doubles.
“There are at least three. These are at least the ones we know for sure”, Budanov told the publication.
The third theory, according to Golobutsky, is related to illness.
“Cancer is supposed to destroy the body, which explains the visible changes in appearance. These can be 100% the consequences of a serious illness. Why not acknowledge the obvious, instead of inventing youth drugs”, the political scientist tells Focus.
Putin’s Secret Family and Harem
Putin’s private life is another fertile ground for myths. The subject of how the Russian president hides his long-term relationship with former gymnast Alina Kabaeva and their children, who do not appear in public, has been raised repeatedly – separate residences have been built for them and a special security system has been ensured.
In 2023, Proekt published a major investigation, “Iron Masks”, about the life of Alina Kabaeva and her children, their life in Valdai, service companies, and the role of secret services in cover-up. Dossier Center and Novaya Gazeta Europe identified two sons (Ivan and Vladimir Jr.) – with details about their life and logistics.
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