Another senior Russian official has died, this time he reportedly fell down a flight of stairs.
Anatoly Gerashchenko,73, the former head of Moscow’s Aviation Institute (MAI) reportedly “fell from a great height” down “several flights of stairs” in the Russian capital on Wednesday, the institute said. He was reportedly pronounced dead at the scene.
At the time of his death Gerashchenko had been working as an adviser to the current head of the MAI, Mikhail Pogosyan, according to Newsweek.
A commission is being formed to investigate the circumstances of Gerashchenko’s death.
The commission “will include representatives of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the State Labor Inspectorate in Moscow and the Moscow Aviation Institute,” the institute said.
Gerashchenko is the third prominent Russian official with close ties to President Vladimir Putin to die under mysterious circumstances this month.
His death comes a week after businessman Ivan Pechorin died just days after he attended an economic forum with Putin. Pechorin was the top manager for Russia’s Far East and Arctic Development Corporation. Russian news outlets say he drown after falling from a moving boat. Earlier this month, Ravil Maganov, the chairman of Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer and biggest private oil company died after falling from the window of a hospital in Moscow.
