Two brothers from a set of triplets fooled prison authorities in Russia when one of them ended up behind bars.

One of the brothers, named only as Roman by Russia's newsru website, swapped places with his twin, Ruslan, to give him a brief taste of freedom.

But once outside, Ruslan showed no intention of going back in, and ran off with his brother's girlfriend.

It took years for the authorities to realise they had been duped but by that time they had already caught up, albeit unwittingly, with the fickle Ruslan again.

It had only taken a quick change of clothes back in 1992 for Roman to take Ruslan's place in prison but he ended up serving the whole sentence.

Fingerprints

When his time was up, Roman, whose family hailed from the southern region of Chuvashia, headed off to Moscow, still keeping his treacherous brother Ruslan's name.

But Roman brushed with the law for real in the capital and ended up back behind bars.

Upon his release, Roman headed back to Chuvashia where he ran into the police yet again.

This time they compared his fingerprints with his brother's and realised the mix-up.

Meanwhile, the real Ruslan's taste of freedom did not last: despite his newly acquired clean record, Ruslan got into trouble with the law again and ended up back in prison.