Russia's Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Pyotr Kucherenko at a press conference. (archive image) © IMAGO/Stanislav Krasilnikov
Vladimir Putin's Deputy Minister of Higher Education is said to have died on a flight. A journalist critical of Russia reports on his fears.
Moscow - "I hardly sleep. I feel terrible. We are all being taken hostage. No one can say anything. Otherwise, we will immediately be crushed like bugs," Pyotr Kucherenko, Russia's deputy minister of higher education, is reported to have said. Months later, he is dead - deceased under circumstances that have not yet been clarified. "Kucherenko felt sick when he was on the plane with a Russian delegation returning from a business trip to Cuba. The plane landed in the city of Mineralnye Vody, where doctors tried to help," the ministry said on a website. Kucherenko could no longer be helped.
According to him, the family of the deceased deputy minister believes that Kucherenko died of heart problems. Accordingly, an autopsy is still pending. Journalist Super is said to have said after Kucherenko's death, however, that he had been taking sedatives out of fear for a long time. "I'll take them by handfuls. But that doesn't help much either," Kucherenko reportedly said in a confidential conversation.
Russian Deputy Minister dies on flight - family assumes heart problems
According to CNN and other international media, Kucherenko spoke with journalist Roman Super a few weeks after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Super left the country shortly afterwards - and recommended the same to Kucherenko. But Kucherenko replied: "That is no longer possible. They take away our passports. And there is no place in this world where they will be satisfied with the Russian deputy minister after this fascist invasion." The Ukraine war is referred to in Russia as a "military special operation" - the term "fascist invasion" violates the official language of the Russian state under Vladimir Putin in two ways.
Russia: Mysterious deaths in Putin's entourage are piling up
Kucherenko was the husband of Georgian-Russian singer Diana Gurtskaya, who represented Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008. He also leaves behind a 15-year-old son.
In the past year, several people from Russia's elite have already died - the mysterious deaths among Russia's elite are piling up, observed by the opposition and the international press. And some top military officers also died in unexplained ways. (Kathrin Reikowski)