Putin's “lookalike” breaks the silence. How he saved the “fake” Zelensky from the Kiev inferno and how he uses satire against the Kremlin dictator
A story worthy of a Hollywood movie script, but with a geopolitical charge as real as possible, brings to the fore the destinies of two ordinary people caught in the whirlwind of the war in Ukraine because of their physical features. Slawomir Sobala, a professional wife of Vladimir Putin, broke her silence in an interview with The Sun publication, revealing how her striking resemblance to the Kremlin leader turned from a profitable business, a weapon to combat Russian propaganda and even took part in a mission to rescue a “fake” Zelensky.
Slawomir Sobola, the Pole who works with Vladimir Putin/FOTO: X
From transportation, directly into the international spotlight
Slawomir Sobola, 59, originally from Wrocław, Poland, runs a transport company in his day-to-day life. That all changed more than a decade ago, when a photo shoot by famous British artist Alison Jackson launched an unexpected career as a “double” of the Russian president. Under the stage name 'Steve Poland', Sobola has traveled the world from London and Hong Kong to the US and even Russia, being in high demand for private events and commercials. “It helped me for many years. At that time, Putin was still respected,” the Pole confesses.
But everything broke in February 2022, when Russian tanks crossed the border into Ukraine. Having overnight become the lookalike of “the ugliest man in Europe”, Sobala initially wanted to quit. But he quickly understood that his traits could be used as a weapon of awareness. “I can't run away from this similarity. I decided to continue, but exclusively through the lens of satire, to criticize the regime in Moscow and make people analyze the reality for themselves“, he explains.
Operation behind the front lines: saving Zelenskiy's “double”.
Isabaev, who had previously worked for Russian state television, had moved to Kiev in 2021. With the start of the war, his life was in imminent danger. Information from security services indicated that Russian special forces wanted to capture him for use in deepfake propaganda videos and fake news to demobilize the Ukrainian military.
Sobala is part of an international network of impersonators of political leaders. Among his colleagues is the Australian Howard X, known for his resemblance to the North Korean leader.
In the spring of 2022, the Pole received an unexpected call. His friends asked him for help evicting Umid Isabaev, an Uzbek citizen who became famous for his near-perfect resemblance to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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“At first I laughed. How could I go to Kiev when the city was being bombed? It was full-blown war“, Sobala recalls.
But he soon understood that the situation was extremely serious.
According to the information received, the Russian forces would have tried to capture Isabaev in order to use him in propaganda and disinformation operations.
“We were told he was a high-profile target. He looked so much like Zelenskiy that he could be exploited in various manipulation scenarios“, says the Pole.
Evacuation under bombing
A former soldier in an elite unit of the Polish army, Sobola used his contacts to organize the evacuation.
Umid Isabaev lived in a neighborhood of Kyiv subject to intense bombing. Roads were blocked and airstrikes were almost constant.
“It took several tries, but we managed to get him out of there”he tells.
On March 8, 2022, Zelenskiy's double was moved to a safe location more than 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian capital. From there he began a complicated route through several cities to avoid areas controlled by Russian troops.
After ten days, he reached the border point between Ukraine and Poland, in the Lviv region.
“Until then, he had permanently worn a sanitary mask to avoid recognition. When he reached the border and revealed his face, journalists were speechless. Everyone was shocked at how much he looked like Zelenskiy,” says Sobala.
Later, the Pole helped him find a home and a job in Wroclaw. Later, Isabaev moved to Germany.
Terror and Paranoia in the Kremlin: Arrivals, Plots and Drones
The Kremlin has been repeatedly accused of using official doubles for the Russian leader's safety. Speculations were fueled recently even by a blunder by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev, who allegedly addressed the Russian leader as “Pai Laich” (which conspiracy theories say is the pseudonym of one of the Kremlin leader's lookalikes, Pavel Nikolayevich).
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Moreover, the paranoia surrounding Vladimir Putin seems to have reached alarming heights this spring. According to a secret report by a European intelligence agency, recently leaked to the press, the personal security of the Russian president has been drastically intensified since March 2026.
“The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin himself are extremely concerned about possible leaks of sensitive information, as well as the risk of a plot or attempted coup orchestrated from within the Russian political elite. The president is particularly wary of drone strikes“, the cited document states.
Despite the geopolitical tensions and radical transformations the world is going through, Slawomir Sobala remains convinced that his work will have relevance in the future as well, making the transition from entertainment to historical and political documentaries: “Even when Putin is gone, the world will remain interested in these stories. There will always be a role for me in this equation.”
