Kremlin rejects speculation that Putin suffered a 'cardiac arrest'

Vladimir Putin was fit and well, said the Kremlin Tuesday, rejecting speculations that the Russian President suffered a “cardiac arrest” in his private apartment in Moscow on Sunday. In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also denied suggestions that Putin was using body doubles, calling that an “absurd hoax”. During the call, reporters asked Peskov about Putin’s health following an unsourced report by a Russian Telegram channel that claimed the Russian president had suffered cardiac arrest on Sunday evening. The Telegram channel, General SVR, which is reportedly run by a former Kremlin insider said Putin was found by guards “lying on the floor” of his bedroom, alongside an overturned table with food and drinks. “Security officers of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who were on duty at the residence, heard noise and sounds of falling coming from the president’s bedroom. Two security officers immediately followed into the president’s bedroom and saw Putin lying on the floor next to the bed and an overturned table with food and drinks,” the Telegram channel said. “Putin convulsively arched while lying on the floor, rolling his eyes,” the post further said. It also claimed that doctors were called immediately who then said Putin suffered a cardiac arrest. In the post, it was also alleged that the 71-year-old leader was transported to a special medical facility built in the apartment where he underwent intensive care. The same Telegram account had earlier led to speculation that Putin uses body doubles. It even claimed that Putin’s body double held a phone conversation with Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and meeting Kazbek Kokov, head of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. In an interview in 2020, Putin had denied longstanding rumours that he uses body doubles, although he said he had been offered the chance to use one in the past for security reasons. With inputs from agencies