An old video of Putin has surfaced—it's hard to believe this is the same person we see today, says Denis Kazansky.

An old video featuring Putin has surfaced, in which he swears that he will never attack Ukraine and will not seize Crimea.

It’s understandable where the conspiracy theories come from, suggesting that the real Putin is dead and a double has taken his place. It is indeed hard to believe that the person in the video and the being currently at the helm of Russia are the same individual.

Notably, Putin here is not just giving a simplistic response like "We will not attack," but rather convincingly explains why it is absolutely necessary to avoid such actions. He presents rational arguments, for which people are currently being imprisoned in Russia. Remarkably, he genuinely believed in what he was saying. Now, he is an entirely different person.

I do not believe in conspiracy theories about doubles, but I have no doubt that Putin has simply lost his mind – and for this reason, negotiations with him are meaningless.

There’s no point in trying to reach an agreement with him not because Ukrainians do not want peace, but simply because it is impossible to negotiate with Putin. We have clear evidence that Putin's words carry no weight. Today he will convincingly argue one thing, and tomorrow he will again disregard any agreements and renounce everything he previously said and signed.