Video Explaining How to Spot 'Real' Putin Reemerges After Mariupol Visit

A clip in which Vladimir Putin is accused of using doubles when appearing in public has reemerged after the Kremlin said the Russian president had visited a city in Ukraine occupied by Moscow.

The Kremlin released footage showing Putin landing by helicopter in the port city of Mariupol which had been left devastated after Moscow bombarded the city on the shores of the Sea of Azov.

Moscow said that Putin toured the city and visited a rebuilt musical theater. Footage also showed him driving a car and meeting residents, with one person telling him, "We're praying for you."

But a video of military blogger and former Russian commander Igor Girkin widely shared on Twitter suggested that any appearance of the Russian leader in public should be questioned.

He believed there were "several" Putin doubles, who are seen when the Russian leader is giving awards and "hugging people." He said "the real" Putin was the one who received ministers at the other end of a long table from where "he looks at them using binoculars."

Girkin, who commanded Moscow-led forces in Ukraine's Donbas region after 2014, has been very critical of Putin and those leading the Kremlin's full-scale invasion.

"When I see an alleged Putin in a crowd, I immediately know I am seeing a double, and no one knows what this double says, he's probably talking nonsense," Girkin said in the video made before the Mariupol visit.

"The real Vladimir Vladimirovich on Christmas was alone in the Kremlin church," said Girkin, who is also known as Strelkov, referring to footage of the Russian leader at the ceremony during Orthodox Christmas.

"The priests were probably afraid of coming close to him, there was probably a sniper who warned he will shoot them if they come closer than 20 meters," he added in the clip which as of Monday had received more than 560,000 views.

The Russian leader was pictured hosting his officials and foreign dignitaries on a huge desk before and soon after his invasion. Kremlin footage in recent months has shown Putin appearing much closer to officials and members of the public.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the night-time visit to Mariupol as "spontaneous" but some social media users raised questions over whether it was the real deal.

Next to a video of Putin driving a vehicle in the city which had been besieged by Russian forces before its capture, the journalist Dmitry Kolezev tweeted asking "why roads are not blocked, tractors and trucks have to pass," adding, "do you believe this?"

At one point, footage from the Russian leader's Mariupol visit shared on Telegram by journalist Anna Mongayt shows Putin meeting with residents and a woman off camera can be heard yelling, "It's not true! It's all for show!"

Kevin Rothrock, managing editor of the independent Russian language news outlet Meduza, tweeted that the audio "was later edited out in subsequent clips."

"I assume the woman yelling was trying to warn Putin that he was being shown a Potemkin village," wrote Rothrock. "But it's also possible that she was trying to disrupt the Kremlin footage to be released later. Either way, wild stuff."

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.