The friend of a man considered a potential successor to Vladimir Putin has claimed he was murdered.
Yevgeny Zinichev, 55, a former Putin bodyguard, died ten months ago in a mystery fall at an Arctic waterfall.
The official version was that the Emergencies Minister died trying to save a man who had slipped but the exact details were shrouded in secrecy.
Now a friend of Zinichev has gone public to claim he was murdered.
Kaliningrad-based MP Solomon Ginzburg, took to Facebook to claim former pal Yevgeny Zinichev, 55, did not die as the result of an trying to save someone who had fallen into icy waters.
Ginzburg, 62, said: "I - as I assume you, too - absolutely do not believe it was a tragic accident on 8 September 2021. The truth will be made public."
The official version of events is that the fomer emergencies minister died whe trying to save another man, Alexander Melnik, 63.
Melnik was a filmmaker said to have fallen in icy water at the Kitabo-Oron waterfall at Putorana Reserve, and as Zinichev tried to rescue him, both of them died.
The Kalinigrad Kremlin-critic said: "He asked to say straightforwardly even the most unpleasant facts, as long as they were verified. He was a true, honest and decent Russian officer.
Ginzburg knew from his brief, 70-day spell as the region's governor and added he was "sorry he is not in charge of it any longer."
"I am certain he would not have allowed the current scale of lies from the authorities, the number of swindlers….and corrupt people and gangsters in power."
Putin's reaction to his friend's death was one of public distress and the despot was seen shedding a tear and being overwhelmed with grief, placing his head on Zinichev's casket.
He then made the sign of the cross and touch Zinichev's body before shaking the hands of the widowed family.
Putin and Zinichev knew each other from their KGB days and reports by the Mail suggest Putin was grooming him as a potential successor.
The Russian president wrote to his friend's family: "I am stunned by the tragic news about the death of Yevgeny Nicholayevich Zinichev.
"I ask you to accept my sincere condolences and words of support at this sorrowful hour. We have lost a true combat officer, a comrade, a man of incredible inner strength, courage and bravery. For me this is an irreplaceable personal loss."
He had awarded Zinichev a posthumous Hero of Russia award, the country’s highest honour.
Zinichev - who held the rank of general - is believed to have died at or near the 90ft Kitabo-Oron waterfall at Putorana Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Arctic.
The official account says he sought to save documentary-maker-cameraman Alexander Melnik, 63, who had slipped as they stood on an icy rock.
In the event, both men died.
"While rescuing a life, he took risk without a second of doubt, and died while fulfilling his duty,” said Putin.
There has been speculation that rivals for Putin’s attention were jealous of Zinichev’s close relationship with the Kremlin leader.
But it is also claimed that Putin may have suspected Zinichev of disloyalty yet if so there was no hint of this in the president’s tributes to him.
Major-General Alexander Kurenkov, 49, nominated today by Putin, is the sixth bodyguard to the Russian president to be appointed to high government office.
Critics say an increasingly paranoid Putin only fully trusts those who have proved their loyalty by guarding his life.
Ginzburg said: “Eternal memory to the citizen and the officer Yevgeny Zinichev.”
It was unclear why the liberal Kaliningrad MP chose now to go public with his murder claim.
Fears over a power vacuum if Putin was to pass away or vacate the role of president in some way have concerned some in Russia, though some have pointed out that the lack of a natural successor is indicative of the control the invader of Ukraine has over the country.
