SHAKHTY, Russia – On January 6, the body of 39-year-old Russian war journalist Alexander Rybin was discovered by a roadside near the city of Shakhty in Russia’s Rostov region. Rybin had recently visited Mariupol, a city in Ukraine that was invaded by Russia in 2022. His on-air report criticized the Putin regime for its lack of progress in rebuilding the war-torn city, which the dictator sees as a vacation spot for Russians on the Azov Sea. Rybin vowed to reveal more details of the “gigantic corruption” in Mariupol in a live broadcast on an online outlet after his return to Moscow.
The city of Mariupol was captured by Russian forces in the early months of Putin’s 2022 invasion and was the site of a number of shocking incidents, including the bombing of a maternity hospital and a theatre sheltering hundreds of civilians. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed, and the city remains in ruins, with an estimated 100,000 people living in its devastated remains, according to the Red Cross.
Rybin’s cause of death was officially listed as “cardiomyopathy” following an autopsy, as reported by Russian state media. However, Rybin’s bank cards and valuables had not been removed. He had previously fought in the conflict in the Luhansk region for pro-Putin forces between 2014 and 2015 but became disillusioned with the so-called “Russian Spring.”
Rybin’s death is the latest in a series of mysterious fatalities among Russian media figures. Zoya Konovalova, the chief editor of a Russian state TV company operating in the Krasnodar region, was found dead in her bedroom from poisoning, along with her ex-husband. This comes at a time when the Kremlin has increased its crackdown on dissenting voices.
The Russian Investigative Committee for Rostov Region stated that “no signs of criminal death were found on Rybin’s body” and is conducting a forensic evaluation before issuing an official cause of death for the journalist. Rybin’s death has raised concerns and added to a list of dozens of untimely or mysterious deaths since the start of Putin’s war in Ukraine.