A TOP Russian ballet dancer who slammed Vladimir Putin for his struggle towards Ukraine has been discovered lifeless.
Worldwide star performer Vladimir Shklyarov, 39, fell from a fifth-floor balcony of his residential block in St Petersburg.
He had starred on the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera Home in London.
Shklyarov was reportedly leaping between two balconies when he fell to his demise.
Native reviews counsel he was attempting to flee from his house the place his ex-wife ballerina Maria Shirinkina had locked him – at his request – to cease him from shopping for medication.
The reviews added he was affected by drug and alcohol habit issues.
The couple – just lately divorced – had a younger son and daughter.
Irina Bartnovskaya, a fellow ballerina, gave a unique account of her demise.
She mentioned Shklyarovwas was on painkillers and getting ready for foot surgical procedure earlier than his demise.
“He went out to smoke on a really slim balcony and fell 5 tales in a silly, insufferable accident,” the man dancer added.
She insisted: “He liked life, household, adored his youngsters and his viewers.”
It was additionally revealed he had written to his physician shortly earlier than his demise, saying: “We’ve to function. I’m not prepared, however there isn’t a different method out. I can not stand this ache.”
In the meantime, Shklyarov was recognized to be a strong critic of Putin’s struggle in Ukraine.
In 2022, he had posted defiantly: “Associates! I’m towards the struggle in Ukraine!
“I’m for the individuals, for a peaceable sky above our heads.
“Politicians ought to be capable to negotiate with out taking pictures and killing civilians, for this they got a tongue and a head.
“My grandfather, Anatoly Filimonovich, graduated from faculty in Ukraine with a gold medal, my great-grandmother Sonya lived her complete life in Kyiv.
“It’s not possible to look at every thing that’s occurring at this time with out tears…
“I wish to dance…I wish to love everybody – that’s the objective of my life…
“I don’t want wars or borders.”
It’s unclear if his struggle criticism might be associated to his demise although many Putin critics have suffered unexplained early deaths.
CRITICS DROPPING DEAD
Through the years, a protracted checklist of Putin critics have died underneath mysterious circumstances.
They embrace oligarch and political fixer Boris Berezovsky, discovered hanged in his Berkshire dwelling in 2013, and his affiliate Nikolai Glushkov discovered lifeless from compression to the neck 5 years later.
Putin’s secret providers poisoned former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko with lethal radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2008.
He died however an try and kill Sergei Skripal, a former Russian army intelligence officer who spied for the UK, failed regardless of the usage of nerve agent Novichok.
Only a few days in the past, a well-liked Russian TV chef who fled to London after opposing the struggle was discovered lifeless in a Belgrade resort.
In December 2023, Vladimir Egorov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, plunged to his demise from a third-floor window in Moscow.
The 46-year-old Egorov was a rich and distinguished politician in oil-rich Tobolsk in western Siberia.
Simply weeks prior, the deputy editor of Putin’s favorite propaganda newspaper was discovered lifeless aged solely 35.
The physique of Anna Tsareva, 35, was found at her dwelling within the capital’s Bolshoy Tishinsky Lane – practically a 12 months after the demise of her boss Vladimir Sungorkin, 68.
In February of the identical 12 months, a prime Russian defence official and a key determine within the funding of Putin’s unlawful struggle in Ukraine Marina Yankina, 58, additionally fell 160ft to her demise in St Petersburg.
She was head of the monetary help division of the Ministry of Defence for the Western Army District, which is carefully concerned within the dictator’s invasion.
Earlier this 12 months, the chief editor of the warmonger’s state-run TV empire was additionally found lifeless after a suspected poisoning.
Zoya Konovalova, 48, who ran a channel working close to the frontlines of Mad Vlad’s unlawful struggle, was discovered alongside her ex-husband.