Russian ballet dancer who criticized Putins invasion of Ukraine falls 60ft to his death
A Russian ballet dancer who was an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine has mysteriously plunged to his death from the fifth floor of a building.Vladimir Shklyarov, a married father of two, plummeted around 60 feet to the ground from a building on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Mariinsky Theater in St.
Petersburg, where the 39-year-old was the highest-ranking dancer, told Fontanka.Russian authorities initially labeled the fall an accident, blaming the painkillers he was taking before a complex spinal surgery.However, he joins numerous other Putin critics who have met untimely ends — including others who have fallen from buildings.The dancer had lashed out on Facebook in 2022 despite the Kremlin’s crackdown on such criticism.“Friends! I am against the war in Ukraine! I am for the people, for a peaceful sky above our heads,” wrote the dad who is married to fellow ballet dancer Maria Shirinkina.“Politicians should be able to negotiate without shooting and killing civilians, for this they were given a tongue and a head.”“My grandfather, Anatoly Filimonovich, graduated from school in Ukraine with a gold medal, my great-grandmother Sonya lived her whole life in Kyiv,” he continued.
“It is impossible to watch everything that is happening today without tears.I want to dance…I want to love everyone – that is the purpose of my life…I do not want wars or borders,” he wrote.In the past year, a member of Putin’s United Russia party mysteriously fell to his death from a third-floor window while the deputy editor of Putin’s favorite newspaper was unexpectedly found dead at 35 inside her apartment.
Two other notable Putin allies, Lukoil tycoon Ravil Maganov and Marina Yankina, also suspiciously fell to their deaths in recent years, however, both were said to be suffering from heart problems.Earlier this year, a journalist who took aim at Russian officials and promised to release details of “gigantic corruption” was also found dead ...