Who are the old men flanking the Russian presidential clone?

During the 9 May 2023 Victory Day parade in Moscow, one of the clones playing the role of President Vladimir Putin – please mind that the genuine Russian leader avoids crowded places and close contacts – made himself comfortable between two old men who postured as World War II veterans.

As the number of WWII veterans remains largely unchanged at patriotic celebrations even 78 years after that war ended, independent journalists in Russia wondered who are the elderly covered with medals.

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This year the Putin clone in the Red Square sat between two NKVD/KGB retirees, who had not been in any combat against German Nazis or their Axis allies, says Agents.Media, an investigative outlet. 

The older one, 98-year-old Yuri Dvoykin, on the right hand of the presidential clone, is a former officer of the secret police NKVD.

He volunteered to the Red Army in 1942, when he was 16, but was denied deployment to the frontlines, getting enrolled instead in a sniper school. 

According to his own accounts, he took his first missions in 1944, after the German retreat from the Soviet Union. Dvoykin hunted down Ukrainian partisans in the Lvyv region who stood up for independence and resisted both the Nazis and the Soviets. 

As a sniper, he actively participated in the apprehension and execution of Ukrainian nationalists. 

On the left hand of “Putin” is another fake veteran. Gennady Zaytsev was born in 1934 and saw the war as a kid. He was enrolled in the Soviet Army in 1953, in the so-called internal forces, and served as a guardian in the Kremlin. A few years after the termination of his active service he joined the KGB, the NKVD’s successor.

In 1968, Zaytsev participated in the preparations and invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops and Warsaw Pact allies, breaking up pro-freedom protests and anti-Soviet uprise in Prague. He led a unit of the KGB’s special department no.7 to capture the Ministry of Interior Affairs in the Czechoslovak capital.

In the 1970s, Zaytsev was promoted to the rank of commander of the newly-formed anti-terror unit Alpha. 

Fake 60-year-old WWII veterans in Russia. Image: Russian propaganda websites

There are not so many WWII veterans left in Russia, where most men die before reaching the age of 80. And yet the Victory Day parades gather thousands of older people every year, wearing dozens of military medals. They usually suffer from amnesia when asked about their age or war experience.