Russia has "collective Putin", whether real one is alive or not is of no importance – Budanov

The Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) Kyrylo Budanov shared his opinions in an interview with Dmytro Komarov's special project "The Year. Behind the Scenes.”

Answering the question of whether Putin exists, the head of Ukrainian intelligence said that he "definitely existed." 

"Does he exist now? Let's wait, over time everyone will see the truth. In any case, he was quite sick back in 2021," he added. 

Budanov reiterated that Putin has many doubles, and "this is an absolutely known fact." He added that over the past six months, it is definitely not Putin who has been traveling to serious official events, but his doubles. There may be many reasons for this, but it doesn't matter much.

"Whether he's alive or dead, it doesn't matter. There is a so-called collective Putin. Whether he is alive or not, in principle, does not affect anything now. In Russia, there are two distinct towers of the Kremlin, as they say. They are competing with each other to see who will win, and this collective Putin has to balance these forces so that none of them prevails. Because if one of them wins, it will unanimously lead to a certain modification," Budanov said.

The GUR chief added that Putin is afraid of many things and has various paranoias. 

"He does not trust his environment. He is afraid of an internal coup. He is afraid of losing power, which will also lead to a coup. He is afraid that someone will poison him. All his main fears are connected to this," Budanov said.

Nevertheless, he is confident that it was Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, not his double, who started the war with Ukraine. 

"I don't know whether he will end it or whether it will end under his watch," Budanov added. 

• Budanov also said that Russia began actively preparing for a war against Ukraine in 2007, and in 2014 took advantage of a convenient moment to invade.