Ukraine’s intelligence chief Budanov tells when Putin was last seen in public

Budanov said this in an interview with Radio Liberty.

"Let's leave it for everyone to live in their flight of fantasies," Budanov said when asked whether Putin, who is appearing in public now, is real.

The intelligence chief added that this is probably a double of the Russian president. But when asked if Putin was alive, Budanov said he did not know.

 "The one that was and that everyone is used to seeing was last seen around June 26, 2022," the Defense Ministry intelligence chief said. 

According to him, there can be many reasons for the existence of Putin's doubles: either the real Russian president has died, or is in very poor health, or does not want to appear.

• In August 2022, Budanov noted that the question of who is playing the role of Putin today is absolutely open.

• Subsequently, the head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine also stated that he personally knew about three doubles of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• In addition, on April 20, 2023, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov reported that it was not Vladimir Putin, but one of his doubles who visited the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson and Luhansk regions.