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Geopolitics

Syrian Prime Minister Escapes Bomb Attack

AL JAZEERA, BBC, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Worldcrunch

DAMASCUS -At least six people died and 20 others were wounded in a blast Monday targeting Syrian Prime Minister Wael Al-Halqi’s car in central Damascus.

The explosive device was planted under a parked car in a busy intersection, and then detonated as Al-Halqi’s car drove by, reports AP. The Prime Minister escaped unharmed.

The attack clearly appears the work of Syrian rebels aiming to cut off the head of the Syrian government, reports Al Jazeera reporter Rula Amin, saying this is a move to confirm their unwavering resolution.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the main rebel group, the jihadists of al-Nusra, has orchestrated similar operations in the past, according to BBC News.

Over the past year, two other direct attacks targeted the government: the defence minister and his deputy (Bashar Al-Assad’s brother in law) were killed in July 2012 and Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar was badly injured in December in another car bomb, reports Al-Jazeera.

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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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