Alaska: There may not have been much to talk about the meeting between US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after it failed to resolve the Ukraine crisis, but conspiracy theorists are certainly having a field day. The internet is abuzz with speculation that the man who met Trump in Alaska was not Putin, but his body double.
The conspiracy theorists based their assumptions on Putin’s appearance and gait, claiming that the person who landed in Alaska had fuller cheekbones and appeared more jovial than the Russian leader.
“I think that is Putin’s body double #5. Does not quite look like him. His cheeks are rounder and does not walk with his customary low movement right arm. A classic KGB walk he uses,” one social media user said.
There seems to be a large number of social media users who seriously believe that Putin has a series of doppelgangers who make public appearances on his behalf.
“Its literally not even the real Putin. They didn’t even send the good double, they sent ‘Jovial Putin’, the expendable one that usually just makes minor public appearances and went to visit Kim in NK,” another X user wrote.
“Anyone that still doesn’t understand that this is Putin’s most expendable double is a moron,” yet another posted.
“Cheeks are too pudgy and he smiles too much. Looks like he’s trying to hold back laughter the whole time. He’s too animated. The real Putin is a more straight face, very little emotion,” another opined.
The speculation around Putin using body doubles is not new. There is, in fact, an entire Wikipedia article dedicated to “Alleged doubles of Vladimir Putin”. Some even believe that Putin’s doubles have undergone surgery to look more like the 72-year-old Russian leader.
However, slight differences in gait and appearance give them away, these ‘experts’ claim. One such difference is Putin’s trademark gunslinger-gait, which body doubles fail to imitate.
Putin’s “gunslinger gait” is a way of walking where one arm (his right) stays unusually still by his side, while the other arm swings normally.
Neurologists say this isn’t due to a medical problem, but likely comes from his KGB training. In the Soviet security service, agents were taught to keep their weapon hand (the right hand in this case) close to the chest or near a holster while walking, so they could quickly draw a gun if needed.
