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Putin may have been playing a role.
A top Ukrainian intelligence official said this week that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may have been replaced by a body double while he was in Iran.
Ukrainian sources told The Sun that the Russian president, who has been thought to be sick or even have cancer for a long time, seemed more alert and mobile than usual when he went to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Maj. Gen. Kyrylo O. Budanov told the Ukrainian news site 1+1 that Putin's lively behavior during the visit was out of character and that the man in the video might not be Putin.
"I'll just give you a hint," Budanov said, as the translation shows.
"Please take a look at the time Putin got off the plane. Is it even Putin?"
Putin's trip to Iran was his first trip outside of Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
US intelligence showed that the talk was about a deal for Iran to sell Russia "several hundred" drones, some of which could be used to attack Ukraine with weapons.
In May, an anti-Putin Telegram channel called "General SVR," which is supposedly run by a former lieutenant in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, said that body doubles had been put on standby in case Putin needed to be replaced while he was having surgery.
The mysterious Telegram account also said that pre-recorded video of Putin going to meetings and signing laws will be released to make it look like he is still working.
Putin said two years ago that in the early 2000s, he was given the chance to hire a body double to do his job for security reasons, but he decided not to.
On Thursday, CIA director William Burns said that Putin looked "entirely too healthy." This was different from what US intelligence had said before, which was that the Russian leader's health was getting worse and he was fighting cancer.
The latest estimates from the CIA say that about 15,000 Russian soldiers have died in the conflict so far.
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