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The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, does not want to have a double. The idea would make their security managers sleep more peacefully, who swallow saliva every time the protocol is skipped on their trips to the most remote corners of the country. But the president has said he doesn't want refills.

At the beginning of 2000, his collaborators proposed to use doubles with a high physical resemblance as a security measure, but he refused to do so. This was told in an interview with the official TASS agency. The idea was that the double replaced him in dangerous activities and places.

"It was an idea that was put on the table, but I refused to use doubles. It was during the worst years of the fight against terrorism," he said. But this is not a new topic. In December 2001, the president was asked the same question during an intervention broadcast live on the ORT and RTR television channels.

But although there is only one Putin, there is a test stomach. The president has a person hired exclusively to try each and every one of the dishes included in his menu of the day. The taster's existence was a persistent rumor in Russia, but he made the leap to the mainstream media after a 2014 meeting in London of the Club des Chefs des Chefs, a platform composed of chefs who prepare meals for heads of state and world leaders. In the case of Putin, his meals are prepared and tasted, not by a chef, but by a member of the 'Federalnaya Sluzhba Ojrany', the Federal Protection Service (FSO) to make sure he is not poisoned. Other kitchen helpers are supervised by the security service, which also checks people around them to make sure they have not fallen under the influence of hostile forces.

The threat of poisoning is not something that can be joked in Russia . if the precedents for poisoning of polonium related to personalities and spies of ancient Eastern Europe are taken into account. The best known case is that of former spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Putin brings his own salt, pepper and even his own napkin . These precautions have shocked even world leaders. During a G20 summit in 2019 Putin was photographed while sipping from a somewhat striking vessel : a white isothermal glass . Meanwhile, the rest of world leaders used the usual cups. But that cup has been accompanying Putin for years, also within Russia. Putin uses it every year, during his annual broadcast of the program 'Hotline' on Russian television, a version of 'I have a question for you' in which the president is explaining for hours. It is an unmistakable element on the screen: a white cup with the emblem of the Russian Federation, from which the president drinks patriotic sips without leaving the security bubble that surrounds him.

A risk trade

"Like the canary in the coal mine, whose function is to warn against the presence of gas when dying before the miners, the official food taster has an ungrateful role," said John Walsh, one of the writers who disclosed the Secrets of this quote from chefs of world leaders. Putin is not the first modern ruler to use this figure so closely linked to kings and emperors.

In 1978, Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu brought a food taster with him when he arrived in the United Kingdom on a state visit to Buckingham Palace. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein also used these services. The Japanese emperors had a sushi taster until 1989, when there were cuts in the palace and the post was not filled. Perhaps the greatest modern 'emperor' is today the president of the United States, who has no taster. But everything you eat abroad is previously sent from the White House and served by an authorized 'waiter'.

All the news about Putin's security measures is somewhat uncomfortable for his most intimate circle of protectors, who love discretion. Often Russian citizens do not know their private trips, and many times the president's vacation is publicized afterwards. His friendships are monitored and recently he takes the temperature to those who visit him in the Kremlin, to avoid a possible infection by coronavirus.

Actually, Putin has not been going to work at the presidential palace for years. Unless you have an important reception, you prefer to 'telework' from Novo Igariovo, your official 'mansion' outside the Russian capital. A fortified estate where you have a replica of your office but also a pool table, gym and pool. This avoids displacement and does not create so many jams to Muscovites with their endless entourage, which is impossible to approach.

In fact, in the face of so much secrecy, fantasy has taken the lead as far as the president is concerned. Rumors about a double Putin have been recurring in Russia, where many details of the performance of the president's role are opaque to the public. Already in August 2000, the then head of the Federal Protection Service, Evgueni Murov, said that Putin had no doubles and that all the rumors about it were "myths and ravings," according to statements issued by Efe. The head of security admitted that intelligence services analyzed at that time often possible threats to the security of the head of state from terrorists. But for Russians, using doubles would have been like admitting that the president's security system is insufficient . Something that, according to Murov, is far from reality.

Only now has Putin been encouraged to speak in a more open way about the subject and the hermetic atmosphere that surrounds it. In the interview he has given, Putin has also referred to his little fondness for technology. His "special" relationship with modern mobile devices reaches the point of not having a mobile phone , although he admits that it is impossible to stop technological development. The rapid advance of technologies does not cause him discomfort because he does not use "these new devices," the president joked.

"I simply have other possibilities," he explained, adding that it is more convenient for him to use the special communication telephone, where they will connect me to any subscriber. "Actually Putin only uses smartphones when a collaborator gives him his cell phone. Usually they are special phones connected by a cable.In their meetings there are no computers, only folders of various colors.A system a bit old, but difficult to 'hack'. Within the walls of the Kremlin security relies on the uses of the twentieth century.

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