"It's not true."
That's the message from the Kremlin in Russia now, after rumors have been swirling in recent days.
According to Reuters, Vladimir Putin is healthy and active, says Kremlin spokesperson Vladimir Peskov. At the same time, he denied that Vladimir Putin uses body doubles, a rumor that has also been circulating for a long time.
The rumors suggested that Vladimir Putin had suffered a stroke on Sunday evening and was found on the floor. These rumors had started on a Russian Telegram channel, according to Reuters. But the Kremlin has now denied this.
This is far from the first time that there have been rumors about the Russian president's well-being. Especially since the invasion, many have been looking for small signs that something was wrong.
Observers on both mainstream and social media have noted his shaky hands, his changed posture, slower speech, and overall different physical appearance on several occasions.
Some have argued that this stands in sharp contrast to the otherwise very macho image that the Russian president likes to portray of himself. However, neither the Kremlin nor Putin himself has so far stated that there is anything wrong with the president's health.
