Kremlin Breaks Silence on Putin 'Cardiac Arrest', 'Body Double' Rumors

The Kremlin dismissed reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has suffered a cardiac arrest.

Since the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there have been numerous reports speculating that Putin was suffering from a host of health problems, ranging from cancer to Parkinson's disease and that he uses body doubles.

General SVR, a Telegram channel, which has previously reported about Putin's health, posted on Monday that the president had been found lying on the floor and that he was moved to a specially equipped room in his residence, where he was resuscitated. The report was carried by publications including British outlets The Daily Mirror and The New Statesman, as well as the Indian magazine Business Today.

The Telegram channel said that while Putin was stable, he was "under constant medical supervision," that the incident "seriously alarmed the president's inner circle" and that doctors had warned that Putin was so ill he "was unlikely to live until the end of autumn."

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalists that "everything is fine with him, this is just another complete hoax," state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Peskov also described reports of body doubles as "absurd and false."

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for further comment.

Last week, Putin seemed to be in good health when he appeared in public and on camera, chairing a Security Council meeting in Moscow and attending a boxing tournament in the Urals city of Perm.

But speculation about Putin's health is likely to continue. Three intelligence leaders told Newsweek in July 2022 that according to a classified U.S. report, Putin had undergone treatment in April 2022 for advanced cancer.

Meanwhile, independent Russian media outlet Proekt Media has reported that the Russian president was accompanied by doctors, including a thyroid cancer surgeon, on trips to his residence in Sochi from 2016 to 2019 and that he may have had surgery in November 2016.

The General SVR channel has repeatedly said Putin has been using body doubles to carry out official duties, however it has not provided evidence for this or its other claims.

Last week, footage of the Russian leader arriving at Beijing Capital International Airport spurred further conspiracy theories that the Kremlin leader uses a body double.

General SVR has also claimed that Putin fell down a flight of stairs, faced an assassination attempt in Moscow, and was due to undergo emergency colon surgery in December 2022.