Russian police are investigating yet another prominent figure who fell to his death from a window in western Moscow.
The secretive head of Pravda publishing house, Vyacheslav Leontyev, 87, fell 70ft from his home on Saturday evening.
He was the former head of Soviet newspaper Pravda, meaning Truth, which was the main organ of the ruling Communist Party, and continued in his role long after the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Leontyev was seen as knowledgeable about the secret wealth of the Kremlin.
Police are probing whether it was an accident, suicide or foul play, but it’s the latest death by a window fall in Russia.
Exiled journalist Andrey Malgin wrote about the ‘strange death’, saying: ‘The window falls continue. Leontyev fell from a window. He was found near his home on Molodogvardeyskaya Street, where he lived.’
Malgin, who knew Leontyev well, added: ‘He gave the impression of a sort of underground millionaire. He also knew a lot about the ‘Party’s money’ — the Pravda publishing house was the most profitable enterprise in the business empire of the CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union] Central Committee.’
Russia has suffered a spate of deaths of leading managers of major companies during and immediately before the war in Ukraine.
The method of attack has ranged from the exotic – drinking tea laced with polonium or turning a door handle smeared with a deadly nerve agent – to the more brutal bullets at close range.
Several have infamously strayed too close to an open window. But over the years, it has become increasingly common for critics of Putin and the Kremlin, as well as turncoat spies and investigative journalists, to wind up dead.
Assassination attempts against Putin’s enemies have been common during his nearly quarter-century in power.
Those close to the victims and the few survivors have blamed Russian authorities, but the Kremlin has routinely denied involvement.
There have also been reports of prominent Russian executives dying under mysterious circumstances, including falling from windows, although whether they were deliberate killings or suicides is sometimes difficult to determine.
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