Kremlin issues extraordinary denial after claims Putin, 71, has died

THE Kremlin have issued an extraordinary message denying Vladimir Putin is dead.

Claims the tyrant had died surfaced in a Telegram channel saying he died at his Valdai palace, just north of Moscow.

The full report in General SVR claimed: “Attention! There is currently an attempted coup in Russia! 

“Russian President Vladimir Putin died this evening at his residence in Valdai at 20:42 Moscow time, doctors stopped resuscitation and pronounced death. 

“Now the doctors are blocked in the room with Putin’s corpse, they are being held by members of the presidential security service on the personal orders of Dmitry Kochnev who is in touch and receives instructions from the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev.”

The incredible statement continued and spoke about what would happen next if the leader had really died.

It said: “Security for the president’s double has been beefed up. 

“Active negotiations are underway. 

“Any attempt to pass off a double as the president after Putin’s death is a coup.”

But in an extraordinary denial Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media RIA Novosti that the report was an “absurd information canard”.

Earlier this week Peskov also had to strongly deny rumours that Putin suffered a heart attack, and reinforced that any reports of a doppelganger were false.

People have started to theorise that these fake reports are further evidence of an intense power struggle in Russia as the country struggles in its war with Ukraine. 

The spokesman for this issue said: “These (kinds of stories) belong to the category of fake news, discussed with enviable tenacity by a number of media outlets.

“This brings nothing but a smile (in the Kremlin).”

General SVR has claimed the dictator suffered from cancer and was terminally ill.

They were also one of the first to push the theory that Putin uses a body double.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence Lt-Gen  Kyrylo Budanov has shockingly alleged the real Putin hasn’t been seen since June 2022. 

He said last month: “The one, who everyone used to know, was last seen around 26 June 2022.”

A recent Japanese TV report cleverly used AI to analyse Putin’s face, walk and voice in multiple recent appearances.

They found that he uses atleast one double and potentially two.

In April, Peskov admitted that reports were rife about Putin’s doppelgängers but claimed the warmonger was “mega-active”. 

He said: “Perhaps you had heard that Putin has multiple doubles, who work instead of him while he is sitting inside a bunker.

“This is yet more lies. This is one more lie. You see our president.

“He is just as he used to be – mega-active.” 

The controversial channel is supposedly run by a former Kremlin lieutenant-general, known by the alias Viktor Mikhailovich.

It claims Putin’s top men and security henchmen control the activities of the various doppelgängers.

It is ignored by most political analysts as it’s run by conspiracy theorists.

The claim comes amid reports that Putin is preparing next week to announce he will stand in next year’s presidential election, seeking a new six year term. 

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas delegation is travelling to Moscow this week to meet Russian foreign ministry officials in the first high-profile international visit for Hamas since the brutal attacks on Isreal on October 7, which killed an estimated 1,400 people and another 220 taken hostage.

The meeting was confirmed when three officials were pictured together at the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow.