The body of Vyacheslav Leontiev, an 87-year-old former director of the publishing house "Pravda", was found in Moscow. According to Russian media, he fell from a height — under the windows of his apartment on Molodogvardeyskaya Street, writes "Fontanka"
According to TASS and other sources, the preliminary version of the death is suicide, associated with "a crushing nervous breakdown".
The authorities report that so far no traces of criminal actions have been found against Leontiev.
Opposition Russian media emphasize the fact that Leontiev managed a media project with great political and economic influence — the "Pravda" publishing house, considered a powerful mouthpiece of the Communist Party in Soviet times. vesti.ru+5vedomosti.ru+5RIA Novosti+5
Journalist in exile Andrei Malgin commented on the death as part of a long line of "strange falls" in Russia: "The falls from the window continue... Leontiev fell from a window. He knew a lot about the party's money ...".
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, quite a few Russian businessmen, close in one way or another to Russian President Vladimir Putin or the ruling circles in the Kremlin, died mysteriously or inexplicably, without having been sick before. Some died in suspicious incidents, such as falling from a high building. In the last year, at least 15 high-ranking Russian businessmen have died in suicides or inexplicable accidents. Six of them are connected to the leading energy companies in Russia.
In 2023, at the age of 40, entrepreneur and head of ICS Holding, Anton Cherepennikov, died. The probable cause of his death was sudden cardiac arrest.
In the world of esports, Anton Cherepennikov was known by the nickname SNEG1. His company "Citadel" developed special software for "Rospromnadzor", which allowed monitoring of almost all Internet users in Russia. This gave the authorities the ability to eavesdrop on telephone conversations and monitor people's activity on the Internet. According to a law adopted by the State Duma of Russia, operators were obliged to use this software.
A Russian deputy minister, Pyotr Kucherenko, also died suddenly after feeling unwell on a plane returning from a visit to Cuba.
High-ranking businessmen such as Pavel Antov, head of an energy company, and Anatoly Gerashchenko, former rector of an aviation institute, are also not among the living. Ravil Maganov, chairman of "Lukoil", and Ivan Pechorin, top manager of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation, also died. The deaths of these politicians and businessmen have aroused interest and questions about the circumstances surrounding their deaths.