Putin ally’s minister Aleksey Avramenko dies suddenly in latest mystery death to hit Russia’s cronies in Belarus
A BELARUSIAN minister died suddenly yesterday of unexplained causes - the latest casualty in a long line of Putin-linked figures who have dropped dead.
Aleksey Avramenko, minister of Transport and Communications for Belarusian "President" Alexander Luksahsenko, was believed to have been 47.
Belarusian state news agency Belta reported the news, but did not comment on his cause of death.
Avramenko was subject to sanctions following the illegal diversion of a
This is the second sudden unexplained death of Lukashenko's officials in a year - in November, Belarusian foreign minister Vladimir Makei dropped dead.
Makei had formerly vowed that his nation - widely seen now as a controlled puppet regime - would not allow Vladimir Putin's troops to use it as a staging area for attacking Ukraine.
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Belarus has a history of dissidents who "disappeared" and then later died, making the recent deaths suspicious to many.
Vitaly Shishov was a Belarusian dissident who lived in Ukraine, and was found dead there in 2021 after he disappeared.
And Putin was rumoured to be executing Russian elites in order to cling to power as his war in Ukraine continues to flounder.
Experts believe the deaths of at least 39 high profile figures - ranging from oligarchs to scientists and even generals - could show the shadowy and bloodstained hand of the Kremlin.
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Only days ago, a Russian chief was found dead in a river, but "didn't drown" - sparking conspiracies around his death.
Andrey Fomin was swimming in the Volga, Europe's longest river, when he suddenly died at the weekend.
The 57-year-old was the chief prosecutor of Chuvashia, a region about 420 miles east of Moscow, and was an ardent supporter of despot Putin.
Sergey Grishin - the so-called "Scarface" oligarch who sold Meghan and Harry their California mansion - died in March from sepsis after criticising Putin.
And Russian scientist Andrey Botikov - who created the "Sputnik V" vaccine - was strangled with a belt in his apartment in the same month.
Jon Sweet, a retired US Army Military Intelligence Officer, and Mark Toth, a national security analyst, described Putin as running "modern-day FSB version of Murder Inc.".
"Anyone seen as a potential threat seems to have an attraction to an open window," Sweet told The Sun Online.
