Putin Body-Double Claims Analyzed by Facial Recognition Experts

Speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be using body doubles on public outings has been rife throughout Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and now Japanese researchers have added more evidence to the claims.

The team has said that there are two body doubles used by the Kremlin, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter, by Anton Gershenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The exact methods used by the researchers cannot be verified by Newsweek at this stage. We have contacted the Russian presidential press office for comment via email.

The research, aired by Japanese TV network TBS, is based on body movements, facial recognition, and voice comparison. The researchers say that there are several different versions of the Russian leader. After scrutinizing many of Putin's speeches using artificial intelligence technology, they arrived at the conclusion that the Russian president likely possesses a minimum of two doppelgängers.

One of these duplicates was identified as the authentic Putin, having made an appearance at the Victory Day parade at Red Square, Moscow, in May 2023. Upon comparing the facial characteristics of this particular Putin with the one seen driving a Mercedes across the Crimean Bridge in December 2022, Japanese experts said that there is mere 53 percent resemblance.

A lower similarity score of just 40 percent was observed between the parade Putin and the one who visited Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, in March 2023. State television footage depicted this Putin navigating the city, which has been the site of considerable conflict during the ongoing Russian invasion. The president was seen touring an apartment-complex construction site, engaging with residents, and inspecting what was purported to be a three-room apartment while providing instructions to Marat Khusnullin, one of Russia's deputy prime ministers.

The researchers also said that the similarity between Putin's facial features in Mariupol and the one seen on the Crimean Bridge amounted to a mere 18 percent.

The findings come as Putin and Russia face continual questions over the leader's health.

Shinji Hyodo, research secretary for the National Institute for Defence Studies, said, according to British newspaper Metro: "I personally found it interesting that a lot of people were saying that the person visiting Mariupol was not Putin himself.

"And here we see the scientific analysis proving the point. There is only an 18 percent facial-recognition likeness between the Putin on the Crimean Bridge and the Putin in Mariupol," Hyodo added.

"Experts on face recognition would refer to this as 'not matching' in most cases, which leads us to the assumption this can be a double."

Voice analysis of Putin was likewise carried out at Japan's Institute of Audio Communication Laboratory. The analysis focused on voice biometrics, specifically the word "spasibo" (meaning "thank you") spoken by 'Putin' on various occasions.

The researchers found the 'Putin' who spoke at the Eurasian Economic Forum at Moscow in May 2023, believed to be the genuine leader, exhibited distinct vocal characteristics from three additional 'Putin' instances. The researchers said they had deduced that Putin's voice differed during the forum in comparison to that in other public appearances.

Expert Mutsutoshi Muraoka said, per Metro: "There is a difference in the recording conditions, as well as the utterance as it is, but still it is extremely rare to have such strong differences. We have to say at this point that the possibility of these two voices belonging to different people is high."