Russian general takes his own life after being sacked by Vladimir Putin
A Russian general who led a suppression of opposition activists shot himself in the head after being sacked by Vladimir Putin.
Maj Gen Vladimir Makarov, 72, was found by his wife Valentina with gunshot wounds just weeks after he was fired by the Russian president in late January.
Police have ruled that his death was the latest in a string of suicides among high-ranking Russian security and military figures.
The major general had fallen into a “deep depression” and “didn’t know what to do with himself” after losing his job, relatives told Russian media.
Anonymous sources on social media linked to Russian security services claim he shot himself with a gas-powered hunting rifle in front of his wife.
His adult son called an ambulance to the family home in a Moscow suburb on Monday but the general could not be saved, according to reports in Russia.
Number of suicides
Maj Gen Makarov was deputy head of the Main Directorate for Combating Extremism.
The Putin regime uses the term “extremist” to describe its opponents, including jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and those involved in anti-government protests.
He was described in Russia as the main organiser in the “hunt” for “inconvenient” opposition activists and journalists.
Last summer, retired Federal Security Service Maj Gen Yevgeny Lobachev and Foreign Intelligence Service Maj Gen Lev Sotskov were found dead in what were reported to be two separate suicides.
Col Vadim Boiko, who was involved in Putin’s mobilisation of new recruits, was found dead with gunshot wounds in a suspected suicide in November.
His widow said he “executed” himself with five gunshots in the chests after allegedly being blamed for some of the problems plaguing Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
