Another Vladimir Putin ally mysteriously dies, keeping Moscow elites on edge

Anatoly Gerashchenko served as the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) and was widely known as a top local aviation expert. Global News, citingRussian media, reported this week that Gerashchenko, 72, died after falling down several flights of stairs at the Institute’s grounds.

His premature death is the latest in a recent string of accidental or untimely deaths of top Russian figures, Business Insiderreports.

Gerashchenko served a lifetime’s work of 45 years at the MAI before he became the rector of the university, a post he performed for eight years before retiring in 2015. After that, he became an advisor to the current rector, as Global News citeslocal state-controlled media RIA Novosti.

The Institute released a press release to mark Gerashchenko’s passing, saying this is a ‘colossal loss’ for the university as well as for the ‘scientific and pedagogical community’.

A career full of merits

Gerashchenko was known for promoting MIA as a national research university, he had published over 100 scientific papers and was awarded top state accolades such as a first-class Order of Merit for the Fatherland and an Order of Honour.

According to the MIA’s public statement, Gerashchenko’s work led to the Institute being recognised in 2010 as the top public university producing graduates most sought after by companies and organisations working in the defence industry.

The statement concludes that a commission has been formed to investigate the death of the former rector.

A string of deaths among former Kremlin allies

The passing of Gerashchenko is the latest in a string of untimely deaths of prominent Kremlin allies this year, each under mysterious circumstances.

Last Wednesday,Global Newsreportedthe passing of Vladimir Nikolayevich Sungorkin, the editor-in-chief of major state newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda just four days after the death of Ivan Pechorin, a prominent energy executive.

These three cases are the most recent ones after eight other deaths of prominent Russian elites who have passed this year under mysterious circumstances, according to Global News.

Sources used:

- Global News: ‘Top Russian aviation expert dies after reportedly ‘falling down’ stairs’

- Business Insider: ‘A Kremlin ally died falling down the stairs, report says — the latest in a series of unexplained deaths among prominent Russians’

- Global News: ‘Top Russian editor allegedly dies of stroke after ‘suffocating’ on business trip’

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