October 24, MOSCOW (Reuters) - On Tuesday, the Kremlin laughed off recurring claims that President Vladimir Putin hired body doubles to cover for him in public appearances and refuted a story that suggested he was unwell.

"Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake," Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, responded when questioned about an unattributed story that the president had experienced a catastrophic health episode on Sunday evening. The report had been picked up by some Western media on the Russian Telekom channel.

In answer to another query concerning body duplicates, the spokesperson smiled and said that Putin did not possess any.

This falls under the category of ridiculous information frauds, which the media has discussed with admirable persistence for an entire series. This just makes me grin," Peskov remarked.

On October 7, Putin, a longtime "action man" fan and judo enthusiast, turned 71 years old. He has a busy schedule of public appearances and meetings, many of which are broadcast on television.

He visited China last week as part of his recent itinerary, making stops in two Russian towns en route.

In a 2020 interview, Putin refuted persistent claims that he employs body doubles, however he did admit that he had previously been given the opportunity to do so for security concerns.