Instagram screenshot @Putinlookalike
UKRAINE – Volodymyr Zelensky was able to flee Ukraine thanks to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un† Surprising? No, when we talk about the lookalikes of these three heads of state who are embroiled in a crazy story against the background of the war in Ukraine† It is told by the Washington Post† who could talk to the three protagonists.
Umid Isabaev is 41 years old. He is the lookalike of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, become a national hero since the invasion of the Russian army. More problematic is that the real Zelensky, who stands up to the Kremlin, is wanted by the Russian army. When war broke out on February 24, his doppelganger quickly realized that his situation could become very complicated.
Thousands of miles of war, somewhere in Asia, Howard X (refusing to give details about his identity), who has been imitating the North Korean dictator since 2013, tells the American daily that he saw the bombs fall in Ukraine and quickly thought of Umid Isabaev. He never met him, but the two had appeared in a documentary about lookalikes of political figures in 2020.
“An unexpected proposal”
He considers himself “too big to fight” alongside the international legion created by the real-life Volodymyr Zelensky, but he “can” financially help his lookalike flee to Poland. USAit’s not Howard’s first time thinking about his colleagues. He would have helped last year too Abbas Alizada, the Afghan Bruce Lee, when… the country fell into the hands of the Taliban.
Howard then sends a message to Umid Isabaev. “It was an unexpected proposal,” recalls the latter, who especially no longer knew who to trust. “The war had started, I didn’t know what to do.” Howard, for his part, contacts one of his Polish friends, a lookalike… of Vladimir Putin. In fact, Slawomir is said to be the most famous copy of the Kremlin master, points out the Washington Post† This is how he participated in the clip of Duran Duran Birthday in 2021, among many other (false) personalities.
Slawomir, stage name Steve Poland, met Howard in 2017 during a commercial shoot with a Donald Trump lookalike. After talking about it with his friend who lives in Asia, he also decides to contact Umid Isabaev to help him cross the border. According to Slawomir, Umid Isabaev was “followed all the time by Russian soldiers who wanted to take him to Moscow to spread propaganda against Ukraine”.
Thus, Umid Isabaev left Kiev to go to Poland, and on March 12, he finally crossed the border. The journey would have taken a week. Howard sent her a car and told her he had paid for the hotel. Arriving safely, Umid Isabaev meets Slawomir and the two drink a glass of beer in a bar. Since then, “I see him almost every day,” the fake Putin tells the Washington Post. “We are friends.”
See also on The HuffPost: During the war in Ukraine, animals were cared for thanks to these Polish vets