Russian colonel’s widow asks Putin to investigate his suicide

The widow of the Russian Colonel Vadim Boiko who took his own life earlier this year has written an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he personally investigate his suicide.

According to Russian news sites on Tuesday, November 29 Yulia Boiko said her husband, who was the deputy head of Russia’s Pacific Higher Naval School was driven to take his own life by his superiors.

According to Yulia a mobilisation station was set up at the military academy where he was stationed. He was put in charge of accepting, accommodating, and supervising draftees but was not given any support by his superiors who instead blamed his for all the failures.

As a result, he was moved to a training site in the village of Sergeyevka in Primorsky Krai. There he was placed in charge of repairing military equipment to be sent to the combat zone, as well as training newly mobilised soldiers.

But Yulia claimed: “It’s not possible to fulfil combat missions with that kind of equipment.” Lacking support from the head of the school, Oleg Zhuravlev, he suffered from insomnia for about a month and lost 15 kgs.

On November 14 the centre was investigated following complaints from the soldiers, which she said the head of the school, Admiral Zhuravlev, “showed a masterful ability to camouflage.”

Colonel Boiko was informed that he was informed that he was facing criminal liability. She said: “The inspectors had already openly informed Colonel Boiko that he would face more than 100 million Rubles (about €1.54 million) in debt for the loss and damage of state property and would be held criminally responsible with confiscation of property.”

In her letter she also disputed the circumstances of his death saying that he had travelled back to the Pacific Higher Naval School in Vladivostok, where he went to his boss’s office.

“There he sat in his chair and fired five bullets at himself from his service weapon, but he didn’t aim at his head, he didn’t pursue the goal of ending things as soon as possible.”

She claimed if he had committed suicide, it would be a first in Russia, instead she has insinuated that he had been murdered with the shots fired to raise attention to his plight and the problems.

Colonel Boiko’s body was found with multiple gunshot wounds on November 16, with five gunshots reported that morning. At the time it was reported that five shell casings and four pistols were found at the scene of the incident.

The open letter from the Russian colonel’s widow raises questions about the circumstances of his death and the culture of blame within the country’s hierarchy.  

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