About. An imitator of Kim has revealed the incredible story of how he turned to a pretend Putin to help someone like Zelensky escape war-torn Ukraine. Howard X, an Australian who makes a living pretending to be the dictator of North Korea, told ABC how he led an international effort to rescue Umid Isabayev, an imitator of Zelensky. Isabaev, originally from Uzbekistan, was living in Ukraine after a photo of him sleeping on a Russian train went viral. He was spotted by the producers of Servant of the People, starring the Ukrainian president, and appeared on the show as Mr. Zelensky’s double. X, who lives in Hong Kong, said he met Mr. Isabayev when the couple appeared together in a Russian documentary about imitators around the world. Kim said that when Russia invaded Ukraine he called Isabayev to check on him. “I called and happened to be in Kyiv. I said, ‘What the hell are you doing? “You have to get the f — out of there,” said Mr. X. Mr. X then turned to a peer imitator for help: a Pole, Steve Poland, who is the image of Vladimir Putin spitting.
