Russian singer ‘falls to his death from window after donating to Ukraine army’

A well-known Russian musician has become the latest critic of Vladimir Putin to commit suicide by falling from a window after he was accused of donating money to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Vadim Stroykin, 58, reportedly threw himself out of a 10th story window in St.Petersburg moments after police raided his home. The British-educated radio host and composer potentially faced 20 years in prison if convicted of supporting the Ukrainian army, which is considered a terrorist organisation in Russia.

He had shared a variety of anti-war posts on social media profiles and labelled Vladimir Putin a ‘b****** who went to war not only against a brotherly nation, but declared war on his own people.’. Russian Telegram channels with links to the Kremlin reported his death, and said that, during the police raid on his house, Stroykin ‘went into a spare room, hastily opened a window and committed an irreversible act’.

Reports of his suicide have not been independently verified, and did not indicate what time of day his death occurred. Stroykin was born in Russia’s Ural Mountains and forged a long-running career in the arts which saw him become a popular and well-known local figure. After graduating from the British College of Journalism he became a radio host working for the Yekaterinburg bureau of the station ‘Echo of Moscow’, where he presented a show called ‘Anthology of the Author’s Song’.

Stroykin was described as a bard musician, a genre identified with the Soviet cultural thaw of the 1960s and the subsequent popularity of allegorical songs as a creative outlet. He also released several albums, ran a successful travel agency and opened a guitar school in St. Petersburg, before becoming a staunch critic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in his later years. A preliminary investigation into his death is underway, according to Russian authorities.

The musician is the latest in a long line of Putin critics to have committed suicide by throwing themselves out of a window or dying a mysterious death. Earlier this week, top Russian colonel Artur Pryakhin, died after plunging 50ft from a fifth-floor window while another was seriously injured from a similar fall. Authorities were reportedly looking into his death, but official media outlets rushed out reports that he died by ‘suicide’ before an investigation had concluded.

Meanwhile, Colonel Alexey Zubkov – an employee of Russia’s Investigative Committee – is fighting for his life after he plummeted a fourth floor window, according to Telegram channel VChK-OGPU. Miraculously, Col. Zubkov was ‘conscious’ after his fall and ‘briskly answered questions’ but was unable to explain the reasons for his plunge. In September, Russian businessman Mikhail Rogachev, 64, died after plummeting 110ft from a window at his home, before his body was discovered shortly afterwards by a member of the Russian security service.

Those close to Rogachev insisted there were no signs that he was suicidal and he was in a ‘good mood’ shortly before his death. And in 2022, Russian oil oligarch Ravil Maganov died after falling from a window while staying at a hospital in Moscow. In 2023, leading war official Marina Yankina, 58, head of the financial support department of the Russian Defence Ministry’s Western Military District, was found dead after falling from a 16th-floor window in St. Petersburg.

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