Russian minister dies in mysterious circumstances after criticising Ukraine war
A Russian deputy minister has died from an unexplained cause several months after he allegedly criticised the Kremlin’s offensive on Ukraine as a “fascist invasion” in a private conversation.
Pyotr Kucherenko, 46, the deputy science and higher education minister, fell suddenly ill on a flight from Cuba to Russia on Saturday, his ministry’s press service said on Sunday.
The aircraft made an emergency landing in the southern Russian city of Mineralnye Vody, where doctors tried unsuccessfully to save his life.
An unnamed source close to the pop singer Diana Gurtskaya, Kucherenko’s wife, told state media that his family believed his death was linked to a heart condition, but that they would wait for the results of a forensic examination scheduled for Wednesday.
Kucherenko’s death comes
