Not the one they were waiting for: a psychologist drew attention to Putin’s facial expressions during the “Direct Line”
20 December 2025 14:01
ANALYSIS FROM 
“Direct Line 2025 with Vladimir Putin once again surprised viewers not only with the content of his statements, but also with the image of the president himself. Viewers were expecting the usual Putin, but they saw something completely different – a version that psychologists call a “modified clone.” Moreover, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian dictator Putin uses more than one “personality.” He says that there are “many Putins”: one talks to Americans, another gives speeches, and the third does something else. What is behind the image of the Russian dictator, how the Kremlin manages the perception of the president and what it says about his public policy – in the article
Putin did not look like an independent personality on the Direct Line, but rather a carefully recreated image with major changes in appearance. Candidate of Psychological Sciences Dmitry Popov in a commentary
“Today it was not the original – that’s for sure. What I saw was a kind of modified clone,” Popov said.
The expert explains that previous versions of the president no longer appear in public, and the current image resembles one of his former doubles, but with obvious changes in appearance.
“Now it looks like the one that was on ‘Innovations’, but very distorted by Botox. These Botox cheeks are no longer “nuts” but something like avocados,” Popov ironically says.
When was the last time you saw the real Putin?
According to the psychologist, at least three different Putins have appeared in public space over the past year, which further emphasizes the artificiality and controllability of his public image.
“There used to be a so-called ‘Udmurt’. It ended its existence about five years ago. That clone was very ugly and did not look like the original at all,” says Popov.
Let me remind you that the head of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov, said that the “real” Russian President Putin last appeared in public in June 2022.
“The one everyone is used to seeing was last seen around June 26, 2022,” Budanov said in an interview with Radio Liberty.
The major general added that the reasons for Putin’s absence in public could be different – from health to unwillingness. After the incident with the watch at the BRICS summit, the use of look-alikes became even more popular online, as the Russian president traditionally wears a watch on his right hand.
