'Are you real?' Putin quashes rumours he uses a body double

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sooronbay Jeenbekov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia February 27, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged he was offered the chance to use a body double to make appearances in public for security reasons, but said he declined the offer and never used one.

Putin, 67, who has dominated Russian politics for more than two decades, has long been the subject of conspiracy theories in Russia - all of them unsubstantiated - that he uses a body double or even a small army of them.