Putin defence official falls 16 floors to her death in Russian city of St Petersburg

Top Putin defence official Marina Yankina fell 160ft from the 16th floor of a tower block in St Petersburg in Russia.

Marina Yankina, one of Vladimir Putin’s top Defence officials was found lying dead on the street in the Russian city of St Petersburg. Local reports said that a pedestrian found her on the pavement and suggest that she fell 160ft from the 16th floor of a tower block.

The 58-year-old deceased official was working in the Russian Ministry of Defence and was the head of the Western Military District department that is said to be heavily involved with funding Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Yankina’s death was confirmed by the Russian Investigative Committee as well as the Fontanka news outlet, which is the press service of the Western Military District.

Anton Geraskchenko, an advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine also reported her passing on his Twitter profile @Gerashchenko_en.

Marina Yankina, head of the financial department at Russian ministry of defense, was found dead.

She fell out of a window.

Her death is not the first among Russian high-ranking officials in the past year:https://t.co/bKfRyU86t9

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 16, 2023

Although no official cause of death has been confirmed, initial reports are claiming she took her own life. She is added to the long line of Russian officials who have died under mysterious circumstances since the invasion of Ukraine began. Only last week, Major General Vladimir Makarov was found dead by his wife in a suspected suicide at their home.

Her personal belongings were said to have been found in an apartment on the 16th floor although reports are conflicting. It has not yet been confirmed whether she worked in the building. A post on the Mash news outlet claimed that just before her death, Ms Yankina had called her ex-husband informing him that she intended to end her own life.

Mash reported: ‘Shortly before the fall, the deceased employee of the financial sector of the Western Military District called her ex-husband. She told him about what she was going to do and where she would leave things – and also asked to call the police’.

‘A few minutes after the call, she was found dead. According to our information, the husband lived in the block from which the fall occurred. The motives continue to be clarified – according to the latest data, the woman had health problems’, it continued. No independent verification of this has been offered though.

The outlet added: ‘Her career had developed rapidly. In five years, she rose from an ordinary employee to the head of the entire department. Meanwhile, the death of the employee was officially confirmed by the press service of the Western Military District’, as reported by dailymail.co.uk on Thursday, February 16.

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