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A Russian general deemed the keeper of secrets for Vladimir Putin’s massive $1 billion Black Sea palace, has mysteriously died in jail.
General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, was told by doctors that he had previously undiagnosed leukaemia after he was left gasping for breath in jail on Monday (August 14).
Lopreyev had just become eligible for parole and as such suspicions have arisen that he could have been poisoned.
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He had worked for the FSO, or Federal Protection Service, and oversaw the construction of Putin’s massive clifftop Gelendzhik Palace.
The jumbo lair was allegedly said to have been built with state cash.
In 2017, he was jailed by a military court accused of bribe-taking and illegal possession of ammunition.
He always denied the charges.
In another project, he oversaw the construction of another one of Putin’s houses, Bocharov Ruchei in Sochi.
Prior to the time he was locked up, he was regarded as one of the closest security personnel members around Putin and was even pictured with the dictator and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002.
Some regarded his arrest and imprisonment as an effort to get him out of the picture and instead think the charges could have been a convenient tool to do so.
According to Telegram Channel VChK-OGPU, he was healthy on Sunday when he spoke to his son Alexander, but by Monday was struggling to breathe or speak.
The channel linked his symptoms to those of Novichok victim Alexei Navalny, saying: “He could not breathe and had a hoarse voice”.
Following the incident, he is understood to have been moved from penal colony number 3 in Ryazan region to two hospitals.
He told his son by phone: “I was taken to Skopin [hospital] first, and they found nothing conclusive.
“Now they brought me to Ryazan regional hospital, and said I had leukaemia.
The son said: “But isn’t leukaemia a cancer….
“Surely it couldn’t catch you in just two days?”
His son recently said: “I also spoke to the chief of their medical unit, who said his heart check returned normal, and lungs were clear.
“It is hard to say what exactly happened.
“We were getting ready to apply for his parole, because it was time [to apply]….
“It’s all very strange, and way too fast.”
“Everything was fine on Sunday,” he said.
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“We had a chat via a payphone, there wasn’t a single complaint about his health.
“His voice was energetic, he spoke about his usual sports like gymnastics and stretching.
“Every day he walked 15km [9 miles].
“On Monday he called with his voice suddenly sounding hoarse.
“He said he must have caught a chill….
“By evening on Monday… he called from [hospital in] Ryazan, saying he felt really unwell…he said he struggled to breathe, and his voice was hoarse…
According to Viktor Boborykin chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission, there was “nothing suspicious” in his death.
In the past, he had been identified by Navalny as knowing the funding for Gelendzhik and being responsible for the project.
The Kremlin has denied that the Palace was built for Putin, although opposition forces are convinced that it was.
- Vladimir Putin
- Novichok
- Military
- Cancer
- Russia
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