Yahoo Finance Putin's Latest Appearance Sparks Jokes He's Using Body Double After One Strange Moment
In this pool photograph distributed by Sputnik agency Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends an informal meeting of leaders of the BRICS countries via video link in Moscow, on August 22, 2023.
A clip of Vladimir Putin has been making the rounds on the internet because of one peculiar moment, which has fuelled speculation he uses a body double.
In the seven-second clip, the Russian president is looking down at his papers when he suddenly glances at his left wrist, seemingly trying to find the time (according to eagle-eyed people online, anyway).
But, his wrist is empty. A mild look of frustration crosses his face briefly, and he soon continues looking at his desk.
Keen observers may then notice he actually has his watch worn on his right wrist, not that Putin himself seems to realise.
Obviously, some people on X (formerly known as Twitter) joked that this meant those conspiracy theories are true: the Russian president is using a body double.
The person who looks like Russian dictator Vladimir Putin appears to forgot that the real Putin wears his watch on his right hand. pic.twitter.com/TaI7Q3tIzM
— Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) August 22, 2023
Oops, Putin's double was not told that he wears a watch on his right hand. pic.twitter.com/E7H8DaFP9O
— Devana 🇺🇦 (@DevanaUkraine) August 22, 2023
Oops. Putin’s double forgets that the real Putin wears his watch on the right hand. 😂😂😂#Putin#Russiapic.twitter.com/azVawb6kjn
— Natalka (@NatalkaKyiv) August 23, 2023
Putin's double has been doing such a great job all this time and then gave up the game the instant he tried to find his watch on his left hand, since real Putin wears his watch on his right. pic.twitter.com/BdvHwyegls
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) August 22, 2023
🤡😅 When will the FSB teach Putin's doubles on which hand he wears a watch? pic.twitter.com/GO0hoGdtde
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 22, 2023
Putin forgot he wears his watch on his right hand.
Or that isn't Putin?
What's going on? pic.twitter.com/oINZO8UJWO— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 22, 2023
#Putin's Double's Watch Blunder
Yesterday, a man who looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin had a very eventful and difficult day. The double recorded several video messages on behalf of the President of #Russia the day before, during the day, he took part in...
1/12 pic.twitter.com/gGRT8KTK9j— generalsvr_en (@generalsvr_en) August 23, 2023
The clip appears to be from a video conference the president had with the council for strategic development and national projects.
But, Tuesday was also newsworthy for another reason – Putin was virtually attending the BRICS summit.
This is where representatives from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa meet – but Putin was unable to attend the summit in person this year.
That’s because an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Russian president back in March over his alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia has robustly rejected the allegations and claims the warrant has no legal meaning because it’s not a member of the ICC – however, South Africa is.
So Putin’s attendance at the summit would have put the hosts in South Africa under pressure to turn him in.
Putin decided to attend via video link instead.
During his call with the summit, Putin claimed that the group – which represents 40% of the world’s population – was on course to “meet the aspirations of the main part of the world community, the so-called global majority”.
He also claimed the summit leaders would be considering moving trade away in the member states away from US dollars and into national currencies.
