Dead Drop: November 3

KREMLIN NOT PUTIN’ UP WITH RUMORS ABOUT VLAD:  There is a school of thought that you should not believe any news coming out of Russia until the Kremlin denies it.  While often true, it is probably not an iron-clad rule. Testing the theory recently, a well-known Russian Telegram channel called “General SVR” which claims to be the work of a former Russian intelligence officer, circulated a report that Vladimir Putin had died and had been replaced by a body double.  We’d heard lots of body double stories before (and even helped spread a few)– but generally the theory was that the Kremlin just kept a spare Putin around for security purposes but not that Putin was – well, dead. But as the New York Post tells it, General SVR says Putin died of cardiac arrest at his residence in Valdai (about 250 miles from Moscow) and that his corpse had been placed in a freezer and  a body double was rolled out to give the impression of continuity while mysterious forces behind the throne were playing ‘Weekend at Bernie’s.’ The rumor got enough bounce that Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had to knock it down, releasing photos of Putin (or someone they said was Putin) and saying the rumors were an “absurd information fake.”

NOT A LAUGHING MATTER:  This seems like an appropriate point to mention a recent Reuters story that laments the sad state of affairs of Russian comedians who are struggling to keep their material topical without running afoul of sensitivities by joking about how things are going in Russia’s ‘Special Military Activity’, known more popularly as the war in Ukraine. Many of those comedians who want to get topical – elect to leave the country first.  That has the advantage of avoiding arrest and conscription. A female comedian who was fined last year for “discrediting” the army in a social media post, has now moved to the former Soviet Republic of Georgia where she is free to tell Putin jokes. For example, at a recent performance she said she “… just saw the stats that 60% of all women in Russia have had at least one erotic dream about Putin,” adding: “Think about it – 60%. Even there, he rigged the poll!”