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Rio Mayor Says Security Is 'Horrible' A Month Before Olympics

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Extra, July 5th

The Tuesday edition of Brazilian newspaper Extrafeatures a picture of policemen, occupying a portion Rio de Janeiro's international airport Tom Jobim to protest unpaid salaries as security fears rise a month before the Summer Olympics are set to open.

"It is horrible," reads the front-page headline, a quote from Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes about the safety situation of the city for the Olympic Games, which will take place between August 5 and 21.

Rio security forces are suffering from the effects of the country's worst recession in decades, to the point where they sometimes have to ask for donations of pens, cleaning supplies and even toilet paper. Rio state's governor, Francisco Dornelles, declared a state of financial emergency last month.

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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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