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Extra! Putin Plays Nice In Italy

Corriere della Sera, June 10, 2015

Hot on the heels of the recent — and Russia-less — G7 meeting in Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Italy on Wednesday, highlighting the way that business ties could be a way out of Moscow's standoff with the West.

In an interview published Wednesday in Corriere della Sera newspaper, Putin sought to reassure his European adversaries: ""I'm not an aggressor," he told the Milan daily. "I want a pact with Europe."

To mark Russia's national day, Putin toured the Russian pavilion at Milan's Expo 2015 with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Putin said in the interview that he considers Russia to have a "privileged" relationship with Italy.

The Russian president's trip includes a stop in Rome, where he will meet Pope Francis, and maybe even his old friend and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Seeking to end Moscow's international isolation, Putin brought along an entourage of Russian business leaders to discuss commercial deals with Italian counterparts. He also urged Russian involvement in several geopolitical issues, including the UN peace plan for Libya.

ABOUT THE SOURCE: Corriere della Sera ("The Evening Newspaper") is a leading Italian daily distributed every morning. It was founded in Milan in 1876 and is owned by RCS MediaGroup.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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