A retired senior Russian official close to both Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin’s secret services has died.
Former director of the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, 67, fell down the stairs of his country house and broke his neck.
Romodanovsky had worked under Putin as an FSB intelligence officer and acted as the dictator’s “eyes and ears” in several government departments.
Notably, he served in the Interior Ministry while always remaining a seconded secret services officer, it has been reported.
The migration service – in charge of controlling immigration – is part of the Interior Ministry.
Romodanovsky held the rank Colonel-General in the ministry, but had been the first head of the FSB’s security directorate where his nickname was “Boot” and he held a similar high rank.
Telegram channel VChK-OGPU alleged that the former intelligence officer had “incriminating documents on many current politicians, businessmen and employees of the [secret service] agencies.”
“Romodanovsky died in his country house under very strange circumstances,” said the channel.
VChK-OGPU said that while retired, Romodanovsky was active, serving on the boards of companies controlled by the powerful FSB secret service.
A source told the outlet: “Perhaps his death is related to his latest intoxication and he simply lost his balance.
“However, such ‘accidents’ have happened to several well-known businessmen and high-ranking FSB employees who were closely connected with the so-called St. Petersburg-Petrozavodsk group.
“In any case, Konstantin Romodanovsky will not tell anything more.”
Leading pro-Putin Russian MP Alexander Khinshtein reported his tragic death and said: “I can’t believe it.
“I spoke with him just last week. He was full of energy and plans.”
A top Putin crony who was set to be a key witness in a major Kremlin corruption scandal died under mysterious circumstances.
Russian general Magomed Khandayev, 61, was head of the State Expertise Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
Khandayev was seen as a key witness in a corruption scandal shrouding the Russian defence ministry amid Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine.
His body was flown to Moscow to his home region of Dagestan for burial, according to reports.
The cause of Khandayev’s death has not been specified.
A Russian news outlet said Khandayev had a “close connection with high-ranking officials whose activities have recently attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies.”
Meanwhile, football hooligan turned Putin’s spy chief Maksim Yeremin mysteriously died after choking on a piece of meat.
Former FSB colonel Yeremin was eating at his favourite restaurant in Moscow before his freak death aged just 50.
He was rushed to Vorokhobov Hospital on August 25 but couldn’t be saved, a Russian Telegram post revealed.
The official cause of death for the dad-of-three was listed as “mechanical asphyxiation”.
Yeremin, also known as Yeryoma, first rose to fame standing on the football terraces in Russia’s top division as a fan of CSKA Moscow.
He quickly became one of the most feared hooligans after helping to create the prominent Red-Blue Warriors.
His obituary described him as “always at the forefront of fan violence, leading the charge in all the most notorious incidents from 1993 to 2000″.
It added he was a “very difficult character – uncompromising, straightforward, and honest”.
“Such people are not always liked, but they are always respected.”
His ruthless reputation as a thuggish supporter soon caught the eye of the Kremlin as Yeremin was recruited to the FSB in the late 1990s.
It comes after Vladimir Egorov, an ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was found dead after a suspected fall from a third floor window.
A member of the ruling party United Russia, 46-year-old Egorov was a wealthy and prominent politician in oil-rich Tobolsk in western Siberia.
His dead body was reportedly found in the yard of his house, with one source claiming there was “no visible sign of a criminal death on the [politician’s] body.”
An interlocutor said: “One of the most likely reasons is heart problems.”
Egorov is just the latest of many in the Kremlin’s inner circle to die under mysterious circumstances.
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