A Russian official who criticized Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has died after he became ill during a flight back to Russia over the weekend.
Russia’s Science and Higher Education Ministry confirmed that the country’s Deputy Science Minister Pyotr Kucherenko, 46, died on Saturday after falling ill on a flight from Cuba where he was with other Russian delegates conducting official business, the Daily Beast reports.
Kucherenko’s unexplained death comes as independent Russian journalist Roman Super, who called the minister a “dear friend,” wrote on Telegram that Kucherenko told him last year after the invasion that Russia was being brutalized and “you won’t even recognize Russia in a year.”
Super also alleged that Kucherenko told him that it was impossible for him to leave because authorities had confiscated his passport.
“There’s no world that would be happy to see a deputy Russian minister after this fascist invasion,” Kucherenko reportedly said.
Super also claimed that the minister told him he was taking antidepressants and tranquillizers, but they weren’t working.
“We’re all held hostage,” Kucherenko said, according to Super. “I hardly sleep. I feel terrible.”
Kucherenko is the latest in a string of Russian officials to die under mysterious circumstances since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.
