A clip of Vladimir Putin has been making the rounds on the internet because of one peculiar moment, which has fuelled speculation he uses a body double.
In the seven-second clip, the Russian president is looking down at his papers when he suddenly glances at his left wrist, seemingly trying to find the time (according to eagle-eyed people online, anyway).
But, his wrist is empty. A mild look of frustration crosses his face briefly, and he soon continues looking at his desk.
Keen observers may then notice he actually has his watch worn on his right wrist, not that Putin himself seems to realise.
Obviously, some people on X (formerly known as Twitter) joked that this meant those conspiracy theories are true: the Russian president is using a body double.
The clip appears to be from a video conference the president had with the council for strategic development and national projects.
But, Tuesday was also newsworthy for another reason – Putin was virtually attending the BRICS summit.
This is where representatives from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa meet – but Putin was unable to attend the summit in person this year.
That’s because an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Russian president back in March over his alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia has robustly rejected the allegations and claims the warrant has no legal meaning because it’s not a member of the ICC – however, South Africa is.
So Putin’s attendance at the summit would have put the hosts in South Africa under pressure to turn him in.
Putin decided to attend via video link instead.
During his call with the summit, Putin claimed that the group – which represents 40% of the world’s population – was on course to “meet the aspirations of the main part of the world community, the so-called global majority”.
He also claimed the summit leaders would be considering moving trade away in the member states away from US dollars and into national currencies.