A prominent musician has died after falling from the window of his 10th-floor St. Petersburg apartment as police searched his residence in connection with allegations that he had financially supported the Ukrainian military, Russian media reported on Thursday.
According to the Mash Telegram channel, which is believed to have links to Russia's security services, Vadim Stroykin, aged either 58 or 59 according to reports, was under investigation for alleged involvement in a ‘terrorist organization’ which is opposed to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Following Russia's 2022 invasion, the musician publicly criticized the war on social media, a stance that may have drawn government scrutiny.
Fontanka, a St. Petersburg-based news website, reported that officers searched Stroykin's apartment in the Admiralteysky district on Wednesday as part of the criminal case.
Stroykin was last seen alive when he went into the kitchen for a glass of water, Fontanka reported. Shortly afterward, "he abruptly opened the window and jumped," Mash stated.
Although the reports have yet to be independently verified, the pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda said that a preliminary investigation was underway to determine the cause of Stroykin’s death.
Stroykin was known as a bard musician, a genre that emerged after the Soviet cultural thaw in the 1960s, characterized by poetic and allegorical songs. In recent years, he dedicated himself to private guitar lessons, teaching from the same apartment where he died, reports said.
Following Russia's 2022 invasion, the musician publicly criticized the war on social media, a stance that may have drawn government scrutiny.
Fontanka, a St. Petersburg-based news website, reported that officers searched Stroykin's apartment in the Admiralteysky district on Wednesday as part of the criminal case.
Stroykin was last seen alive when he went into the kitchen for a glass of water, Fontanka reported. Shortly afterward, "he abruptly opened the window and jumped," Mash stated.
Although the reports have yet to be independently verified, the pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda said that a preliminary investigation was underway to determine the cause of Stroykin’s death.
Stroykin was known as a bard musician, a genre that emerged after the Soviet cultural thaw in the 1960s, characterized by poetic and allegorical songs. In recent years, he dedicated himself to private guitar lessons, teaching from the same apartment where he died, reports said.
Mysterious deaths
The death of Stroykin came the day after it was reported that two Russian colonels were involved in mysterious falls from upper-floor windows.
Colonel Alexey Zubkov, a forensic investigation specialist, fell 12 meters from a bathroom window, the UK's MailOnline reported, citing Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.
He survived the fall and was taken to hospital. The Telegram channel added that Zubkov, who heads a department of the Russian Investigative Committee focused on studying digital information, was "conscious" after the incident but could not explain how he fell.
A second high-ranking official died when he fell from a fifth-floor window on the same day.
Artur Pryakhin – an ex-police colonel now working for an anti-monopoly agency – plummeted from a fifth-floor window in Petrozavodsk, capital of the western region of Karelia.
Authorities were investigating a suspected suicide, reports said.
A string of mysterious deaths of leading members of Russian society have occurred since Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It has included oil executives and senior members of the military bureaucracy.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, a private military force that fought in many of the early battles of the Ukraine War, died in an airplane crash on 23 August 2023, two months after he led a short-lived rebellion against President Vladimir Putin.
Colonel Alexey Zubkov, a forensic investigation specialist, fell 12 meters from a bathroom window, the UK's MailOnline reported, citing Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.
He survived the fall and was taken to hospital. The Telegram channel added that Zubkov, who heads a department of the Russian Investigative Committee focused on studying digital information, was "conscious" after the incident but could not explain how he fell.
A second high-ranking official died when he fell from a fifth-floor window on the same day.
Artur Pryakhin – an ex-police colonel now working for an anti-monopoly agency – plummeted from a fifth-floor window in Petrozavodsk, capital of the western region of Karelia.
Authorities were investigating a suspected suicide, reports said.
A string of mysterious deaths of leading members of Russian society have occurred since Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It has included oil executives and senior members of the military bureaucracy.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, a private military force that fought in many of the early battles of the Ukraine War, died in an airplane crash on 23 August 2023, two months after he led a short-lived rebellion against President Vladimir Putin.
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