Two allies of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who fired him, are believed to have died mysteriously within a day of each other.
Last week, Magomed Khandayev, a 61-year-old Russian Defense Ministry official, and businessman Igor Kotelnikov, 52, were discovered dead. These are the latest mysterious deaths involving Russian figures since the invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces in February 2022.
Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Russian Council for Human Rights, said in a July 12 column in the Moskovsky Komsomolets that Kotelnikov died in a remand center in Moscow on July 8 after feeling unwell. He had been accused of bribing senior officials in the Russian ministry. of Defense.
The cause of his death is still unclear, but Merkacheva added that Russian human rights activists say the mobile phone where the businessman was being held is crowded.
The cells are “small, warm in hot weather, bloodless in winter. In addition, some detainees remain there all day,” Merkacheva wrote.
“They couldn’t save him: the 52-year-old man died, his center stopped,” he added.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
The VChK-OGPU media outlet, which claims to have internal data on Russian security forces, said FSB investigators hoped to unload Kotelnikov’s testimony against former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, arrested on corruption charges in April.
Ivanov was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes, the Russian Investigative Committee announced on April 23. He had served as Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister since May 2016. His role concerned asset management, supervision of the ministry’s service structure and the provision of medical services to the Russian military. and manage troop accommodation.
The VChK-OGPU reported that workers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) visited Kotelnikov in the pre-trial detention center “forced him to admit his guilt and testify against Timur Ivanov and other Defense Ministry officials. “
Kotelnikov, however, refused. Then, the management of the pretrial detention center began to exert pressure on him. He was sent to the disciplinary cell, where he fell ill. Two days later, doctors concluded that Kotelnikov simply could not remain in prison. solitary confinement due to chronic illness,” the news outlet said, adding that it discovered him dead the next morning. Newsweek simply can’t determine those details independently.
Several senior army officers have been arrested since April, including Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s workers’ department. Meanwhile, Shoigu was replaced as Minister of Defense after having held the position for 12 years, in a wonderful reorganization of the department.
Russian state agencies reported Khandayev’s death on July 9. He is head of the Department of State Examinations of the Russian Ministry of Defense since June 2023. The cause of his death and the place of his death have not been revealed.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Khandayev was a direct subordinate of Ivanov. Independent Russian media outlet The Moscow Times said it was unclear whether Khandayev had been able to testify in the Ivanov case.
Sources within the Kremlin government told the publication that the recent initiative to “clean up” the Defense Ministry was introduced through the FSB on Putin’s orders.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek journalist founded in Kuala Lumpur. It focuses on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Isabel joined Newsweek in 2021 and in the past had worked with media outlets such as Daily Express, The Times, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Grazia. She holds a Master’s degree in News Journalism from the City of London, University of London and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in Russian from Queen Mary, University of London. Languages: English, Russian
You can contact Isabel by emailing i. vanbrugen@newsweek. com or by following her on X @isabelvanbrugen
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