
A Russian defense official has died mysteriously after falling from a window of a high-rise building in St. Petersburg.
The head of the financial support department of the Western Military District, Marina Yankina, 58, was said to have left documents on the balcony before falling 160 meters to her death.
The woman's body was found on Zamshina Street on Wednesday, local media reported. According to preliminary information , the 58-year-old Yankina was discovered by the residents of the area who notified the authorities.
Police later found documents and personal belongings on the common balcony at the entrance of the building, believed to belong to Yankina.
From the first reports it is known that she did not live in the building. Currently, investigators are working to clarify the circumstances of the woman's death.
Yankina previously worked at the Federal Tax Service and served as Vice-Chairman of the Property Relations Committee of St. Petersburg, according to Fontanka. She was believed to have been a key figure in financing Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
Yankina has become the latest senior figure to die under mysterious circumstances after earlier this week Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, who was sacked by Vladimir Putin a month ago, was shot dead at his home his near Moscow.
He was responsible for the "war against extremism" in Russia, where according to foreign media he led a "witch hunt" to remove the President's rivals, as well as journalists.
Last month, the former prime minister of an oil-rich Russian region, Magomed Abdulayev, 61, was hit by a car while crossing a road.
He was hit by a Niva car in the city of Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea. In total, at least nine tycoons and industry figures linked to the regime died under suspicious circumstances over the past year.
In December, tank chief General Alexei Maslov, 69, died suddenly just a day after Putin canceled a meeting with him.
Just a few days ago, one of the most senior leaders of the Russian Navy also died suddenly at the age of 65.
Alexander Buzakov was the general director of the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg, in charge of building new submarines for Russia.
His death was described as "sudden, untimely and tragic". Four other members of Russia's scientific and military elite died before and after Christmas.
One of Putin's top engineers, Vladimir Nesterov, has died suddenly at the age of 74. Multimillionaire Pavel Antov fell from a hotel window in India, where he was traveling for a birthday vacation.
Previously listed as Russia's richest elected politician in 2019, he had described the Ukraine attack as "terror" and was one of the main critics of the Russian invasion.