At least three men have undergone plastic surgery to look more like Vladimir Putin so they can act as his body double, according to Ukraine's chief spymaster.
Major General Kyrylo Budanov also believes his findings could explain the tyrant's erratic behaviour since the start of the invasion in February.
The Ukrainian Government is so baffled by his actions, they now wonder if someone else is making the decisions in Moscow behind a Putin stand-in.
He said the dictator's behaviour does "not follow any logic" as he admitted that before the war, Putin was "not an idiot".
But, he now wonders "whether the real Putin still exists" despite there being no evidence to suggest the Russian President has died.
Budanov - who is the Kremlin's public enemy number one - claimed that Ukrainian intelligence had spotted body doubles on occasion at official functions, but claims it has become "usual practice" for a lookalike to stand in.
He told the Mail on Sunday : "We know specifically about three people that keep appearing, but how many there are, we don't know."
The men have gone to great lengths to appear indistinguishable from the despot, he said, having had "plastic surgery to look alike".
Budanov added: "The one thing that gives them away is their height. It's visible in videos and pictures. Also gesturing, body language and earlobes, since they are unique for every person."
Earlier this month, it was rumoured that a body double stood in for the despot during an official visit to a training base for mobilised soldiers.
Photographs taken on the day showed the despot aiming and firing a sniper rifle.
It appeared to be a rare recent visit by the Kremlin commander in chief to meet men he is sending to war.
The Russian ruler who became reclusive during the height of Covid times seemed unusually tactile at the Western Military District’s training ground in Ryazan region.
He gripped a mobilised soldier’s arm, and thrust out his hand for a handshake, waiting while the unmasked conscripted man slowly removed his glove.
The friendly body language was unusual recently for Putin, and reports have said that those meeting him are generally expected to undergo two weeks' quarantine beforehand.
Yet Putin’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu was present, and the presidential bagmen looked the part, one carrying what might have been the ‘nuclear football’ - with codes for a Russian nuclear strike - and another familiar functionary with a possible medical kit.
But Telegram channel General SVR has disputed the authenticity of the visit, linking it to health concerns over the president.
The channel - which claims insider knowledge from the Kremlin - stated: “A man who looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who participated in the filming at the training ground, is the president's double.”
And it claimed Putin was not happy with the “understudy’s” behaviour which was “too fussy”.
Aides persuaded him to allow the footage to be seen because it looked “soulful” and “humane”.
The extraordinary claim of a “doppelgänger” went on: “The double was guarded in the same way as [Putin].
“The understudy was wearing a concealed bulletproof vest, all security measures were observed, including a minimum of contact with outsiders, the absence of military weapons for all the uninitiated, and the disposal of biological waste, [as happens with] Putin.
“They try to avoid incidents with an understudy as much as possible, even the possibility for a double to fire a few shots from a sniper rifle was the subject of difficult discussions and almost a separate mini-special operation.”
It claimed one of two Putin doubles deployed by the Kremlin was used in Ryazan.
The channel has long claimed - without offering hard proof - that Putin has significant health problems including cancer.
“The main double - there are two in total - is almost identical to the original, but has several undeniable advantages,” said General SVR today.
