"Staged show:" DI claims they have no evidence of Putin visiting Mariupol
Ukrainian intelligence has no evidence or confirmation of Russian President Vladimir Putin arriving to occupied Mariupol.
Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Defense Intelligence department at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, said so on the telethon.
"Why are you convinced that it was Vladimir Putin in Mariupol? We have no proof that this person was Vladimir Putin. A man who looks like Vladimir Putin is indeed in this footage," Yusov said.
According to him, experts are currently debating whether Putin is alive.
"But if he is alive, then we usually see the same Vladimir Putin at meetings, sitting by a long table, at a huge distance from living people. He has a tremor in his hand and many other characteristic features that characterize Putin himself well. These characteristic features include no evening walks in Mariupol and no communication with civilians next to their houses," Yusov said.
Yusov noted that the video allegedly featuring Putin is "good director's work," and Russian propaganda knows how to make "various staged shows."
"But we were not given any evidence that it was Putin who was in Mariupol," the DI said.
On March 19, 2023, the Kremlin's website reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had allegedly arrived to occupied Mariupol on a work trip. This was supposedly Putin's first visit to the occupied east of Ukraine. The press office noted that Putin allegedly flew to Mariupol by helicopter, then drove around several districts of the city, and talked to the locals in the "Nevsky" microdistrict.
On the same day, "Meduza" shared a video wherein someone shouts: "All this isn't true! This is all for show!" as Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with alleged locals in occupied Mariupol.
The media claimed that this excerpt is featured in the video distributed by the press office of the Kremlin.
However, as of now there is no such fragment in the video on the Kremlin's website, which allegedly shows Putin's visit to Mariupol.
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