The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is set to stage a ceremony in an ornate Kremlin hall to announce Russia's rule over around 15% of Ukraine, the biggest European annexation since World War II.
Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of Putin's security council, told 'impotent' Western leaders they are miscalculating the risk of nuclear war both as a deliberate decision by Putin - and a terrifying accident.
Supporters of Putin's most prominent opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, had called on the public to come out at a "Noon against Putin" protest to show their anger at Putin's crackdown.
'Any attempt to pass off a double as the president after Putin's death is a coup.' Nikolai Patrushev, 72, is secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council, and Putin's top intelligence advisor.
Navalny's family and allies have accused Putin of having the 47-year-old Putin rival killed and then holding his body to both hide his cause of death and out of fear that his funeral would draw large crowds.
"Since the western media has been talking a lot lately about the fact that Putin wants to invade Ukraine or something, which is totally nuts, I thought it might be a good time to remind that Russia is not Putin."
Russia this week was forced to issue yet another formal denial that Putin has been replaced by a body double. In a bizarre statement on Saturday, November 4, the Kremlin insisted: "We have only one Putin."