Russian general who ripped Putin for ‘third-rate’ air force found dead with wife in mysterious circumstances
A decorated Russian general who previously blasted President Vladimir Putin for running a “third-rate” air force has died under mysterious circumstances alongside his wife.
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Sviridov, 68 — who commanded Russia’s 6th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense from 2005 to 2009 — was found dead in bed Wednesday at his home in the village of Adzhievsky in the Stavropol region.
Sviridov’s 72-year-old wife, Tatiana, was found next to him, reported the popular Russian Telegram channel Baza.
The couple had been dead for about a week before the bodies were discovered, according to Baza.
No signs of violence were observed at the scene.
“Gas service workers have already taken measurements and no excess of the permissible concentration of harmful substances has been detected,” the channel wrote.
“What caused the death of Vladimir and Tatiana Sviridov is still unknown,” the report claimed.
However, a detailed inspection of the gas appliances in his house determined that a key valve malfunctioned during a power outage in the village about a week ago, suggesting that the couple likely died in their sleep as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, reported Kommersant, citing local officials.
“When I found out about his death, my heart was heavy. It’s a shame that people of such a rank, who are worthy of attention and respect, go out in this way. It seems to me that this was an absurd death,” Maj. Gen. Vladimir Popov, an acquaintance of the former commander, told the outlet News.ru.
The Investigative Committee of Russia is looking into the Sviridovs’ deaths.
General Sviridov had been ousted from his commanding post more than a decade ago, after repeatedly ripping the Russian air force.
In an interview with the Russian magazine Take Off in 2007, Sviridov bitterly complained about the training of pilots.
“A pilot must have about 100 hours of flight time per year for full combat readiness. However, this is not yet the case,” the outspoken commander griped.
“The average flight time in the army is currently 25-30 hours.”
In another interview, Sviridov was quoted as saying: “We are forced to appoint not fully trained officers because there are no better ones. For the same reason we are sending to military academies third-rate pilots. This did not happen in the past.”
During his decades of military service, Sviridov was awarded the title “Honored Combat Pilot of Russia” and received the Order of the Red Star.
There has been a string of suspicious deaths among Putin’s critics since the start of the war in Ukraine, most recently in August, when Wagner Group mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a suspicious plane crash — three months after leading a mutiny against Russia’s military brass.
Since Putin came to power in 1999, a long list of businessmen, political opponents and journalists who have been critical of the president’s policies have met untimely ends or had close calls.
