One of Vladimir Putin’s top engineers passed away unexpectedly at age 74, making him the latest member of Russia’s scientific and military elite to pass away this year.
Just before he passed away at the age of 74, Vladimir Nesterov, the man who created the Russian Angara rocket, was charged with extensive theft.
This year, suspicion hung over the man who built the “world’s best” rocket pads, making Putin’s aspirations of space travel a reality.
Nesterov, who once served as the head of Russia’s esteemed Khrunichev Centre, was the mind behind the Angara rockets that Putin wanted to utilise to launch Russia into space.
Using Nesterov’s plans as a foundation, Russia is currently developing its first manned lunar trip.
But accusations of fraud and embezzlement have followed him into his later years.
Nesterov was placed under house arrest in 2014 after a criminal investigation was first opened.
Putin’s accusers claim that he stole more than £57 million and pocketed it.
But at the time of his passing, his embezzlement case had not yet been heard in court.
The former director praised the Angara rocket system as the “greatest in the world” and was regarded internationally as a pioneer in his area.
His reason of death is still unknown.
He joins a long list of prominent Putin associates who have perished since the start of the conflict in Ukraine as the fourth top Russian official to pass away in recent days.
On Christmas Day, a Russian tank commander passed away just hours before an appointment with Putin.
General Alexei Maslov, 69, died shortly after Putin postponed a visit to the Uralvagonzavod tank company where he worked because of an unexpected illness.
Maslov, the former commander of the Russian ground troops and a former ambassador to NATO, apparently had no known health issues before to his untimely passing.
Putin abruptly cancelled his trip after his convoy had already arrived and the snow had been cleaned from the highways.
A few days prior, a 65-year-old senior navy commander from Russia also passed away unexpectedly.
At the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg, Alexander Buzakov oversaw the production of brand-new Russian submarines.
According to a Russian Telegram channel claiming to have access to the FSB security service, Buzakov was in good health the day before he passed away and “nothing had been heard about Maslov’s health difficulties” before to his demise.
It was said that his death was “sudden, untimely, and terrible.”
Additionally, a wealthy 65-year-old Putin critic was recently discovered dead under strange circumstances.
During a trip to India for his birthday, multimillionaire Pavel Antov fell from a hotel window.
One of the most prominent Russian critics of the invasion, he had earlier called Russia’s assault on Ukraine “terror.”
The sausage tycoon reportedly leapt off the roof, according to Indian media. He was previously rated as Russia’s wealthiest elected lawmaker in 2019.
However, just days before his 66th birthday, Alexei Idamkin, the Russian consul general in India, insisted that he had fallen from a window.
He was discovered at the hotel in Rayagada, Odisha, in a pool of blood.
He died soon after 61-year-old Vladimir Budanov, another member of his party, who also perished last week in India.
Last Thursday, Budanov reportedly passed away from a heart attack.
Putin critics and at least ten wealthy Russian oligarchs have suddenly passed away this year.
It occurs in the midst of rumours that Putin is ridding his inner circle of his detractors due to his unsuccessful invasion of Ukraine.
