Former head of Pravda publishing house dies in Moscow after falling from window

Vyacheslav Leontiev, 87, long-time head of the Russian publishing house Pravda, which he continued to run even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has died in Moscow. According to a report by the Express portal, he died after falling from a window in his home from a height of 21 meters.

It is still unclear whether it was an accident, suicide, or foul play. However, reports of his deteriorating health appeared in the media.

Exiled journalist Andrei Malgin, who knew him, suggested that Leontiev may have had considerable hidden assets and described his death as “strange.” “He seemed like a kind of underground millionaire. He knew a lot about the ‘party's assets’ – the Pravda publishing house was the most profitable company in the economic empire of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,” he wrote.

Leontiev's death is one of a series of suspicious falls from windows that have affected several public figures and managers of large companies in Russia. Just last month, the former transport manager in St. Petersburg, Alexander Fedotov, died in a similar manner, and before that, the manager of the oil company Lukoil, Ravil Maganov.

Similarly, in October last year, the former vice president of the oil company Mikhail Rogachev died, and in February 2023, a Defense Ministry official responsible for war finances also died.

(max)